A RECORD number of people in the borough have taken part in a million strong customer consultation by Thames Water.
Wildridings Primary School in Bracknell was one of dozens of locations where people were able to have their say on the company’s ambitious five-year business plan.
Borough customers from different age, income and even faith groups, also provided feedback through surveys, online and text messages.
The findings which will be published next month, covered a wide range of topics including fixing leaks, flood damage, increasing use of renewable energy and bills.
Water companies are required to submit business plans to the regulator every five years and Thames Water started the process three years ago.
Steve Robertson, CEO of Thames Water, said: “We’d like to thank the record-breaking number of people from Berkshire who have helped us shape our five-year plan.
“Our proposals are a true reflection of what our customers have told us they want to see and we appreciate all the time they’ve taken to give us their opinions and advice.”
Borough customers listed a number of priorities including:
- Delivering a personal, proactive customer experience: pre-empting their needs, treating people on an individual basis and causing minimum disruption when things go wrong.
- A safe and dependable water service: provide a high quality, reliable water service, fix leaks and help customers with their own leaks.
- A safe and dependable wastewater service: reducing the number of sewer flooding incidents and helping individuals with their blocked pipes.
- Be resilient: prepare for the future by helping customers use less water, ensure enough clean water can be supplied and guarantee wastewater systems can cope better.
- Be a responsible business: help customers in vulnerable circumstances, make charges affordable for others and keep the bills stable. Use renewable energy, contribute to the local community and be transparent.
A company spokesperson said: “The final Price Review 2019 proposal will be published on September 3 by all water companies for Ofwat to review.”
Thames Water is the UK’s biggest water and wastewater services provider. It has invested over £1 billion every year, on average, for the past 12 years improving services for 15 million customers across London and the Thames Valley.