Feature Stories
Wessex Water: Making Water Affordable and Accessible to Everyone
Marketplace 30 October 2024
The cost of living in the UK remained high during the year under review and many customers continued to experience economic hardship. Wessex Water responded by making support packages for vulnerable customers and those struggling to pay their bills more visible and easier to access. Actions taken included:
- Auto-enrolled just under 5,000 customers to schemes via data shares with councils and the Department for Work and Pensions;
- Continued to fast-track customers to their Assist scheme (which provides bill discounts) at first point of contact;
- Introduced a new care leavers scheme pilot, enabling those leaving care to automatically access Assist up to the age of 21;
- Promoted their schemes using a variety of communication channels, using imagery and wording customers have said will best encourage them to get in touch. Activities included: placing advertisements in specialist publications as well as in more general publications and locations; distributing leaflets through schools and posting on social media;
- Committed to working with debt advice organisation Money Wellness to refer customers to them directly through a web portal. With consent, Wessex Water is also able to receive data back to support customers to access the right help for them;
- Provided over 20 training and awareness-raising sessions with partners about what tap, a tailored assistance programme, has to offer;
- Launched a new online eligibility calculator to enable customers to find the right affordability scheme for them.
Furthermore, Wessex Water’s strategy to help vulnerable customers, Every Customer Matters, continues to guide its work on providing inclusive services, including Priority Services. Mirroring the focus on fast and easy access to financial help, the division also focused on raising awareness and take-up of the support offered, to those in other types of vulnerable circumstances. This year, Wessex Water has once again retained the British Standard for Inclusive Service Provision.