Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation

Transcription

1 Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Summary of responses Report to: Anglian Water April 2013 Prepared by Dialogue by Design Dialogue by Design 252B Gray s Inn Road London WC1X 8XG Telephone: info@dialoguebydesign.com Website: Company registration no. in England and Wales: VAT registration no The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and may not reflect those of Anglian Water.

2 Contents Executive summary 1 Chapter 1 Introduction Background to the consultation The consultation process Reading this report How this report is organised 8 Chapter 2 About the consultation Methodology Encouraging participation Participation About the respondents 14 Chapter 3 Satisfied customers Future customer service Sewer flooding in homes Further sewer/wastewater concerns 29 Chapter 4 Fair charges Special lower tariffs Metering Cost of water 40 Chapter 5 Safe clean water Catchment management Drinking water 55 Chapter 6 Resilient services Resilience to drought Drought and flooding concerns 60 Chapter 7 Supply meets demand Leakage worries Other comments on leaks Water usage Other demands on supply 69 Chapter 8 Flourishing environment Environmental management Other environmental concerns 73 Chapter 9 A smaller footprint Carbon emissions and natural resources Carbon footprint reduction Climate change 77 Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design

3 9.4 Energy savings 78 Chapter 10 Conclusions Work with communities 79 Chapter 11 Other themes Investing for tomorrow Fair profits Other comments and questions Consultation and information 89 Chapter 12 Conclusions Overview of responses by issue Next steps 95 A.1 Appendix Details of engagement activities 96 A.2 Appendix Consultation questionnaire 100 A.3 Appendix Analytical framework 102 A.4 Appendix Organisations and businesses responding 115 Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design

4 Executive summary Introduction In 2013, Anglian Water initiated its widest ever consultation with customers and stakeholders on its proposals to shape the future of its water services for years to come. This report gives an account of the findings from this consultation. Every five years, water companies review the price they charge their customers for the water they supply. This price review process involves taking into account and balancing a wide range of different and sometimes competing priorities. To inform the development of its business plan for the next price review known as PR14 and its longer-term strategy, Anglian Water has developed a programme of engagement and communication called Discover, Discuss, Decide. As part of the PR14 process, the water regulator, Ofwat, asked each water company to set up an independent customer challenge group. Anglian Water has convened its own independent panel of experts, the Customer Engagement Forum (CEF). Through Discover, Discuss, Decide, Anglian Water aims to establish an ongoing conversation with its customers and stakeholders, providing information and understanding their views. The broad aim of the programme is to help Anglian Water determine the best possible balance of priorities for investment while delivering high quality customer service and keeping customers bills affordable. The consultation centred around a document which described ten different outcomes that Anglian Water wants to achieve. The document was developed with input from the CEF. It provided respondents with the opportunity to Discover information about Anglian Water, Discuss and consider what they think, and then help Decide the future of services by responding to the consultation questions. Respondents could submit their views by using the online response form, the paper response form, via or letter, or in some cases via customer services representatives. The views collected in this consultation will inform Anglian Water s draft business plan, to be published in summer This will explain how Anglian Water thinks the different choices are best balanced. Customers and stakeholders will again be asked for their views on this draft plan later in The findings from this will inform the final business plan, to be published in December 2013, and Anglian Water s longer term strategy. The consultation asked twelve questions, each of which focused on one of the outcomes described in the consultation document. Five of the questions were open, so that respondents could contribute their own thoughts in as little or great detail as they wished. The remaining seven questions were multiple-choice. Because the respondents chose to take part in the consultation, they cannot be taken as a representative sample of Anglian Water s customers or stakeholders or of the wider population. This means that the findings from the consultation describe only the views of the respondents and cannot be generalised over a wider group. Overall balance of responses The consultation process has generated a wide variety of comments and suggestions thus far, from Anglian Water customers (household and business), employees and stakeholders. We cannot say with certainty how many respondents fall into each of these groups, as some employees and stakeholders might have chosen to respond as customers. However, where Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 1 of 116

5 people identifying themselves as employees have raised issues not raised by other respondents, we have noted that these issues are specific to employees. Overview of responses by issue The issues that have attracted the most attention so far are support for paying bills and lower tariffs, catchment management, water quality, customer service, more communication about Anglian Water s work and the importance of education on water conservation. Satisfied customers The majority of people who comment directly on Anglian Water s customer service are satisfied, praising it for providing excellent support and urging it to maintain its current high standards. Where room for improvement in customer services is identified this is primarily in relation to communications, including timeliness of response and reliability from Anglian Water s customer services. Positive suggestions made by respondents range from providing more frequent updates on engineer calls at home and works in the community, to providing more information and advice on bills. Some respondents list specific targets against which to measure customer services, such as fixing a problem on the first visit, better management of calling customers back, following cases through, and learning from the best practice in the field. Many respondents call for more self-service options for payments and meter readings as well as greater use of technology and social media networks. A number of respondents call for the company to prioritise operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Other respondents express serious concern for sewer flooding in homes and want the company to prioritise eliminating this risk. Some Anglian Water employees offer suggestions for internal improvements to communications, service levels and staff training. Fair charges Respondents who comment on the idea of lower tariffs to help some people who struggle to pay their bills have mixed views. Some support this idea while others oppose it, and many give reasons for their views. Some feel a social duty to help out those who might have difficulty paying their bills and can identify specific groups that might fall into this category, such as older people, people with disabilities and families on a low income. Others see financial benefit in this idea, suggesting that lower payments would reduce non-payments and help to keep everyone s bills at a reasonable level. Many of the people who oppose lower tariffs do so on the basis of fairness: they say that everyone should pay their own way and be treated equally in terms of tariffs. Metering is another of respondents central concerns. Many think that everyone should be made to switch to a meter as soon as possible. Some think the choice to switch to a meter should remain a choice for the customer to make either in their own time or with encouragement from Anglian Water. Others would still like to see everyone made to switch to meters but phased in over time to allow people to adjust to changes in their bills. Some respondents comment on the cost of water generally and many of these say it should either be reduced or that increases in prices should be minimal: while many of these people say that water is currently affordable, they worry that price increases will change this. Others compare the cost of water favourably with the cost of other utilities. A few think that water is undervalued and too cheap. Some respondents are motivated to save water in order to save Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 2 of 116

6 on their bills, while others say that the company can also find ways to save money across its operations. Safe clean water Respondents were asked about their views on catchment management, which is defined by Anglian Water as influencing land-use practices to reduce pollution before it affects water sources. Catchment management can involve paying farmers and landowners to change what they do. People supporting catchment management plans whole-heartedly or conditionally outnumber those opposing them. The most common reasons for support include concerns about the safety of drinking water and the health of the environment. Preventative management of water resources is also seen as more efficient and effective than post-event clean-up. Many respondents are concerned about the cost of these proposals, however, and that this will be passed onto customers through bills. Some people think that farmers and landowners should not be paid to change their behaviour, often on the basis of the polluter pays principle. Others argue that tackling water pollution should involve other organisations as well as Anglian Water, including the government and the Environment Agency. Many respondents say they would like more information on this issue before offering a view. Many respondents say that the quality of their drinking water is fine. Some are concerned about water hardness, others would like improvements in its taste, and a few comment on water discolouration. When responding to the multiple-choice question about the quality of water, a number of respondents identified other ways in which Anglian Water could improve this. These concerned the taste and smell of chlorine, the presence in water of other chemicals such as fluoride and nitrates, and variance in the appearance of water, in terms of cloudiness and colour. Many respondents would like to see water recycling in place and some suggested dual water supplies for potable and non-potable uses. Resilient services Anglian Water asked respondents how quickly the company should improve the resilience of its service. The majority of respondents think that Anglian Water should invest at the same rate as they do now, reducing the risk to supplies slowly to keep bill increases to a minimum. Fewer respondents support an increase in the rate of investment to improve Anglian Water s resilience quickly, with an increase to customers bills in the short-term. Some respondents would like more information about the company s current levels of investment, which would enable them to respond better to whether to maintain or increase the rate of investment. Flooding and drought issues relating to resilience are raised in respondents comments on a number of questions. Many encourage Anglian Water to reduce these risks and support improved resilience in the water network to ensure continued supply in the face of weatherrelated water pressures. Many respondents want to avoid limits to supply or use during periods of drought, and are particularly frustrated by hosepipe bans. Some respondents want Anglian Water to ensure an effective but balanced course of action to tackle both issues, while others are concerned about the costs of taking action. Supply meets demand Many respondents are concerned about leaks, often saying that they waste treated water and cost money to fix. Many Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 3 of 116

7 think that Anglian Water should focus on preventing and repairing leaks to conserve water, minimise damage and keep costs down. The time that it takes Anglian Water to repair leaks is another recurrent theme, with respondents noting that the longer it takes to fix leakages, the more water gets wasted. Some respondents express wider and more long-term concerns about water supply, including the possibility of scarcity as the population grows and more development takes place. Education and awareness-raising about water efficiency and conservation, in particular are seen as very important in relation to these issues but many respondents are unaware of Anglian Water s work in these areas. Some think that Anglian Water should supply water-saving devices such as meters and water butts, either free or at a discount. Other suggestions for addressing growing pressure on supply include expanding existing reservoirs and constructing new ones, rain harvesting and the use of grey water where appropriate, and ensuring water efficiency measures are incorporated in new builds. Some respondents express concern about the impact on water pressure as population growth increases demand. Finally, some respondents think that Anglian Water can improve its own water efficiency, both across the infrastructure and in its operations. Building partnerships with other water companies, local councils and property developers could result in innovative and collaborative solutions, according to some respondents. Flourishing environment Investing in environmental management beyond legal obligations is important to most respondents. About half of those commenting on environmental management qualify their support by saying that investment should generate clear economic benefits for local people. Others support investment because the environment itself matters to them. In particular, some respondents are concerned about the impacts of Anglian Water s work on local ecosystems, including the deterioration of habitats and pollution of rivers. These respondents argue that Anglian Water should concentrate on reducing negative environmental effects resulting from its own system and practices. Some respondents commend Anglian Water for its environmental programmes and awareness campaigns. However, for some respondents, environmental management activities do not fall within Anglian Water s purview. Others contend that water users including the agricultural sector and other large-scale users are more to blame for the negative environmental impacts and that more environmental awareness activities are needed. A smaller footprint A majority of respondents say that reducing carbon emissions and use of natural resources should continue to be a goal of Anglian Water as long as bills do not increase. Only some support this even if bills might increase. Some raise concerns about the impact of climate change on weather conditions and hence on overall water resources and a few suggest demand-side measures, such as smart meters, to address this concern. Others suggest that factors such as water companies mismanagement of water supplies are a greater threat to water resources. Some respondents suggest that collaborating with other regional water suppliers, energy companies and local planning authorities would help Anglian Water s efforts to ensure a water supply that meets future demands. Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 4 of 116

8 Caring for communities In general, respondents support Anglian Water s work with communities, and many mention specific issues in the context of community work including water usage and environmental protection that they would like to see the company prioritise. Community engagement and education activities particularly educational programmes aimed at children and young people are seen as an important aspect of Anglian Water s efforts to raise awareness about water resources and water usage. Recreational areas are also supported for their leisure, economic and educational value. A large number of respondents say they did not know about Anglian Water s community activities, and some think that Anglian Water should publicise its work in the community more effectively. A few respondents do not see community activities as the responsibility of a water company and think that Anglian Water should focus on supplying clean drinking water and wastewater services. Other themes Two of the outcomes in the consultation document were not addressed in specific questions. These are Investing for tomorrow and Fair profits. Some respondents comment on these outcomes in their answers to other questions. Many respondents comment generally on Anglian Water s infrastructure and assets. Some respondents are particularly concerned about pipe maintenance across the infrastructure. In addition, some take the view that asset maintenance including regular checks on and cleaning of the system and improvement across the ageing infrastructure should be the company s main concern. A few respondents are concerned about the quality of sub-contracted work. Of these respondents, some acknowledge that investing in upgrading and maintaining the infrastructure will require some cost to be passed to the customer. On the other hand, others support enhancing assets only in balance with low customer costs. Some respondents comment on the structure of the water industry and on Anglian Water s profits. A number of respondents say that the industry allows for monopolies and prevents consumers making a choice among suppliers. A few respondents feel that the public do not understand Ofwat s price regulation of the industry and think that Anglian Water should help to clarify this. The most recurrent comment on profit is a challenge to either the level of profit or its use. Sometimes the roles of shareholders, owners or management are challenged: many respondents think that lowering dividends to shareholders is an acceptable and preferable way forward. Finally, a number of respondents comment on the consultation process itself and how issues are treated in the consultation document. Some praise the consultation while others express some concerns. Conclusions The Discover, Discuss, Decide consultation suggests that Anglian Water s customers are interested in taking part in a wide-ranging discussion and in having their views heard as part Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 5 of 116

9 of the price review process and longer-term strategy. The consultation responses contain numerous remarks, reservations, suggestions, support for and opposition to Anglian Water s ten outcomes. They touch on individual circumstances, regional issues such as population growth and national and global concerns such as drought, flooding and water scarcity. Insights from the entire consultation will feed into the dry run business plan to be developed over the summer of At this point, Anglian Water will again ask for customer and stakeholder views on the proposed business plan. Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 6 of 116

10 Chapter 1 Introduction In 2013, Anglian Water initiated its widest ever consultation with customers and stakeholders on its proposals to shape the future of its water services for years to come, Discover, Discuss, Decide. This report gives an in-depth account of the 4,871 consultation responses received. 1.1 Background to the consultation Every five years, water companies review the price they charge their customers for the water they supply. This price review process involves taking into account and balancing a wide range of different and sometimes competing priorities. To inform the development of its business plan for the next price review known as PR14 and its longer-term strategy, Anglian Water has developed a programme of engagement and communication called Discover, Discuss, Decide. Through Discover, Discuss, Decide, Anglian Water aims to establish an ongoing conversation with its customers and stakeholders, providing them with information and gathering and understanding their views on a range of themes. The broad aim of the programme is to help Anglian Water determine the best possible balance of priorities for investment while delivering high quality customer service and keeping customers bills affordable. The views gathered over the course of this programme will inform the development of Anglian Water s long-term strategy and its business plan for Throughout Discover, Discuss, Decide, Anglian Water is working closely with its Customer Engagement Forum (CEF). This independent expert body represents the interests of customers, communities, the environment and economy. Part of the role of the CEF is to report to Ofwat on the overall quality of the engagement work carried out by Anglian Water as part of PR14 and to confirm that customer and stakeholder views have been considered in the development of its next business plan. This plan to be published in December 2013 will be submitted to Ofwat for approval and will set the level of customers bills and investment priorities for The consultation process Anglian Water worked with Dialogue by Design (DbyD), an independent consultation company, to design and conduct the Discover, Discuss, Decide consultation and analyse all responses received during the consultation. Conducting open public consultation ensures that all those who wish to contribute to the ongoing conversation are able to do so. The project centred on a consultation document which described ten different outcomes that Anglian Water wants to achieve. This document was developed with input from the CEF and was made available in paper and electronic formats. The document provided respondents with the opportunity to Discover information about Anglian Water, Discuss and consider what they think, and then help Decide the future of services by responding to the consultation questions. Respondents could submit their views by using the online response form, the paper response form or via or letter. Respondents could respond to as many or few as they chose of the twelve questions included in the consultation document. The questions covered eight of the ten outcomes presented in the consultation document: Satisfied customers, Fair charges, Safe clean water, Resilient services, Supply meets demand, Flourishing environment, A smaller footprint, and Caring for communities. The two remaining outcomes, Investing for tomorrow and Fair profits, had no corresponding questions but respondents commented on Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 7 of 116

11 these issues in their responses to other questions. We have reported on these comments separately (Chapter 11). Of the twelve consultation questions, five were open-ended with a free-text space to respond, using up to 2,500 characters. Seven questions were multiple-choice; each of these questions offered respondents between two and five response options. These options were presented in two different ways. They might take the form of statements describing different views on a single issue: respondents could then choose the statement which best reflected their own view on that issue. Alternatively, the options describe different issues which might concern respondents or on which Anglian Water might focus: for example, hardness or discolouration in relation to water quality. Respondents would then choose the option they thought was of most importance. Respondents could also choose not to select one of the options presented and may do this for a wide range of reasons: we have not attempted to second-guess why people chose the no option selected response rather than one of the positive statements. The final question was a general invitation for respondents to offer any further comments and questions. The outputs from this consultation will inform the development of Anglian Water s draft business plan. This will be published in summer 2013 and will explain how the company thinks the different choices can best be balanced. The proposals in Anglian Water s draft business plan will be put out to further consultation and the views gathered will help Anglian Water to refine their plans further, in light of customer and stakeholder feedback. 1.3 Reading this report The purpose of a consultation process is to gather views and ideas rather than to determine the level of support or opposition for particular issues. The people who have contributed their views were not chosen to represent any wider population such as all Anglian Water customers or the population as a whole. Instead, they were self-selecting. That is, they chose to take part in this consultation. This means that the findings have no general or wider validity. Instead, they provide rich insight into the range and diversity of the comments made by the 4,871 people who responded. The self-selecting profile of the respondents to the consultation makes it important for the reader to bear in mind that any numbers or percentages used in the report have no statistical significance. These are used only to indicate the balance of respondents views on the multiple-choice questions. To provide some guidance on the balance of views expressed in response to the open-ended questions, we have used words such as most or many when a large number of respondents make similar points. Many points are made by a smaller number of respondents anything between a handful and a couple of dozen. In these cases, we use the words few, some or several respondents. Overall, the report seeks to summarise the rich variety of respondents suggestions and therefore the use of quantitative wording is essentially an indication and should not be perceived to carry any statistical significance. 1.4 How this report is organised This summary report on the consultation presents the results from the analysis of the 4,871 responses to the consultation. The remainder of this report is organised as follows: Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 8 of 116

12 Chapter 2: detailed overview of the consultation process, method of analysis and participation Chapters 3 to 11: details of the consultation findings, following the structure of the consultation document. Each chapter provides a summary of the main comments and concerned raised by respondents. It then goes on to provide a flavour of the consultation responses received and delves into particular themes that are raised across the consultation questions. Chapter 12: conclusions of the analysis. Throughout this document, parts of respondents comments have been inserted to illustrate the narrative. For reasons of data protection, comments are attributed by respondent type: household customer, business customer, organisation, or employee of Anglian Water. For the purpose of clarity, any spelling or grammatical errors in quoted responses have been corrected. For those respondents who have opted for their response to remain confidential, no part of their comments will be quoted in this report. Finally, where it is clear that respondents identifying themselves as employees have raised issues not raised by other respondents, we have noted this. Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 9 of 116

13 Chapter 2 About the consultation 2.1 Methodology The Discover, Discuss, Decide consultation opened on 21 January 2013 closed on 24 March This was an extension to the planned close date of 10 March 2013 and enabled more respondents to participate. Responses to the consultation were received in a number of formats: online response forms submitted via the DbyD bespoke consultation website paper response forms sent directly to DbyD or gathered via Anglian Water s customer services team. The team made home visits to customers, took telephone responses, ran events in city and town centres, and in schools responses sent directly to the consultation address or to Anglian Water. All responses were received by DbyD, assigned a unique reference number and entered into the DbyD analysis system. Online response forms Online responses received via the consultation website go directly into the DbyD analysis system. While the consultation was open, users were able to update or amend their submission at any time. If respondents updated their submission the changes were imported into the analysis database with a clear reference indicating a modified submission. This ensures that any new information provided is taken into account during the analysis. Paper response forms Response forms received by post were logged and scanned, then manually entered into the analysis database by data entry staff. The data entry process followed the questionnaire structure so that these responses could be analysed in the same way as online responses. The quality of data entry was monitored by the DbyD transcription team to ensure that responses were captured accurately. To make allowances for potential delays in the postal system, offline responses postmarked no later than 25 March 2013 were included in the analysis and in this report. Customer services team assisted response forms The Anglian Water metering team collected responses from customers at home recording their responses digitally on their laptops. Customers on the Anglian Water WaterCare register were also contacted and customers registered as blind or partially sighted were sent Braille and large print communications explaining how they could respond. Some contacted Anglian Water for further assistance; in these cases, the customer services team collected their responses over the phone, recording their responses digitally or onto paper forms. These customer services assisted responses were securely transferred to DbyD for processing in a manner similar to that described above for paper response forms. s Respondents were able to send responses directly to DbyD by or directly to Anglian Water customer services for forwarding to DbyD. In the latter case, Anglian Water informed respondents that their response would be considered as part of the consultation and securely Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 10 of 116

14 transferred the responses to DbyD, where they were entered into the analysis system as described above. Analysing qualitative responses To analyse the responses, and capture the variety of views expressed, we created an analytical, or coding, framework. The analytical framework is a tool by which we analyse responses according to the issues and arguments they raise. We read responses and apply themes, sub-themes and codes to them. This helps us with analysis and report-writing and allows us to retrieve responses on particular issues at a later date. Throughout analysis and reporting, the coded responses have been available to the Anglian Water project team. For this project we adopted a three-tier approach to analysis, starting with high-level themes, splitting these into sub-themes and then into specific codes: Themes: high-level categories to organise related sub-themes and codes Sub-themes: mid-level groupings to organise codes Codes: a description of a specific issue or argument As an example, a comment by a customer stating that they feel their Anglian Water bills are good value would be coded into (theme) Charges and Profit - (sub-theme) Cost - (code) value for money/affordability. The full analytical framework is provided in Appendix A.3. The DbyD data analysis system allows analysts to develop a basic coding framework at the start of a project (top-down) while still providing scope for further development of the framework to capture emerging issues using suggestions from the analysts engaging with the data (bottom-up). The initial framework was supplemented and approved by the Anglian Water project team. We use natural language codes 1 (rather than numeric sets) since this allows analysts to suggest refinements and additional issues, and aids quality control and external verification. The system is also designed to allow responses to be coded in layers; if each code summed up a complete response, there would be no need to summarise them. In addition to themes such as Water Quality or Supply Resilience that emerged, generic themes such as Location, References and Consultation and Information allowed analysts to capture specific locations mentioned in responses, references made to organisations such as Ofwat, and any views on the consultation as a whole, including the process, the information presented and the consultation website. During the analysis it became clear that respondents often raised the same issues against more than one question. To avoid repetition and to ensure that each issue is fully reported, the report has been structured in line with the questions asked. For example, where respondents have raised issues relevant to question 1 in their response to question 3, we have reported on these issues in the chapter on question 1. Quality assurance DbyD s formal quality assurance is built into our overall consultation process and we quality check data entry of handwritten and typed responses, and the integrity and consistency of overall analysis, on an ongoing basis. The quality checking function is flexible and allows us to focus attention on the work of particular analysts and on specific questions or codes, enabling us detect and minimise inconsistencies. In addition to the in-built system-guided 1 Natural language here refers to plain English communication that is spoken, written or signed as opposed to constructed languages, such as that used in computer programming. Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 11 of 116

15 quality assurance, we use more informal methods to maintain high standards. These include core team members supporting new analysts and regular analysis meetings to explore any emerging issues and discuss possible changes to the framework. The core team analysed and reported on responses, ensuring consistency. Analysing multiple-choice responses Responses from the seven multiple-choice questions produced quantitative data that were analysed by DbyD s colleagues from the Office for Public Management (OPM). We report on each of these questions with a brief summary of the responses and a graph displaying the total number and percentage of respondents selecting each of the response options as well as those who did not choose those options. Among responses to multiple-choice questions, we include those in which none of the presented options was selected. They are reported as no option selected. In line with good consultation practice, we have made no assumption about the reasons why respondents might have chosen this option for example, whether they feel unable to respond to the question, whether they reject the options presented or whether they simply ticked boxes at random. There may be other reasons for choosing no option selected. In 461 instances, respondents submitting paper response forms either selected more than one option, wrote in and selected their own option, or wrote additional comments on the options for one or more of the multiple-choice questions (questions 2, 4, 7, 8, 9 or 10; question 6 provided an other option with an open-ended free-text space for respondents to add comments in response to the question). Often, these respondents selected one of the options provided and wrote in an alternative/additional option as well. In the great majority of cases, these additional options or comments did not raise issues that were not already included in other responses, and we have analysed and reported on them within the relevant themes and chapters. In those cases where an additional option or comment was particularly common or did raise something noteworthy we have noted this in the text (e.g., sections 7.2 and 11.4). Table 1: Additional comments/options provided by multiple-choice question Multiple-choice question Additional comments/option provided 2 Sewer flooding in homes 62 4 Metering 46 7 Resilience to drought 77 8 Leakage Environmental management Carbon emissions and natural resources 48 Total Encouraging participation Anglian Water aimed to raise awareness of the consultation to encourage a wide range and variety of responses. They promoted the consultation website via post, and mobile messaging; held events in city and town centres and worked in schools across the region. Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 12 of 116

16 They covered the entire Anglian Water region, including Hartlepool, to encourage all customers and stakeholders to have their say. Activities included: Customer engagement roadshows Print and broadcast media Radio advertising Web and social media. Targeted groups included: Stakeholders s Business customers Future customers. For further details on these activities, please see Appendix A.1. As further encouragement to respond to the consultation, Anglian Water offered respondents excluding their employees the opportunity to enter a free prize draw for three prizes of 100 and four prizes of 50 Love 2 Shop high street vouchers. A total of 2,064 respondents chose to enter the prize draw. The winners of the prize draw were selected by random and winners have been notified. 2.3 Participation The total number of responses received within the consultation period is 4,871. The table below identifies the number received through the different response channels available. The majority of responses were received either by paper form or via the consultation website. Table 2: Number of responses received by response channel Response type Count Paper form 2,719 Online 1,863 Customer services team assisted Paper form with attachment 1 Total 4,871 Not all respondents answered all consultation questions. The table below shows the number of responses to each of the consultation questions. Table 3: Number of responses received by question Question Responses 1 Future customer service 3,417 2 Sewer flooding in homes 4,871 Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 13 of 116

17 3 Special lower tariffs 4,103 4 Metering 4,871 5 Catchment management 3,300 6 Drinking water 4,871 7 Resilience to drought 4,871 8 Leakage 4,871 9 Environmental management 4, Carbon emissions and natural resources 4, Work with communities 2, Other comments or questions 2, About the respondents Respondents were asked to answer a small number of questions about themselves, specifying some background information. For those responding via the consultation website, some minimum information including name, address, postcode and respondent type was required. Respondents could choose whether to provide information in addition to this. People responding via other formats, including paper, could provide as much or as little information about themselves as they wished. A small number of respondents (66) did not provide their names and responded to the consultation anonymously. Organisations Forty-five respondents identified themselves as business customers and 56 identified themselves as other types of organisation. Of these 101 respondents, 40 identified their organisation or business. These are listed in Appendix A.4. Postcodes Postcode information allows us to identify whether respondents are customers of Anglian Water for their water supply, their wastewater services, or for both of these. A total of 3,671 respondents provided a valid postcode that falls within the Anglian Water service footprint: Of these customers within the Anglian Water service area: 3,297 are water supply and wastewater customers 246 are wastewater customers only 128 are water supply customers only (including 72 Hartlepool Water customers). Some respondents did not provide a postcode (706); others provided postcodes that are out of Anglian Water s service areas or provided invalid postcodes (494). Postcode information also allows us to identify response across geographical area. Among the 4,165 respondents who chose to provide a postcode, the greatest number (1,447) report Peterborough area postcodes. The other most common postcode areas among respondents include, in order of decreasing prevalence: Norwich (484) and Northampton (484) Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 14 of 116

18 Ipswich (408) Lincoln (302) Milton Keynes (251) Cambridge (178) Doncaster (130) Other postcode areas: 481 We have analysed all 4,871 responses submitted to the consultation. There were no significant differences in findings when taking postcode data into account in the analysis. Background information As noted above, some respondents provided additional information about themselves. This includes respondent type (e.g., domestic or business customers, organisational response etc): their age; the number of adults in the household and the number of children in the household; whether they have responsibility for paying the bill and whether their water supply is metered or unmetered. Those who did not answer a particular question about themselves are reported as no option selected. We have analysed all 4,871 responses submitted to the consultation. In the text we note the only instance where a significant difference in findings was identified when taking background information into account in the analysis (e.g., regarding views on metering in relation to reporting having a meter in the analysis of question 4 in section 4.2). Figure 1: Respondent type the majority of respondents identify themselves as household customers self-identifying organisations and businesses responding are listed in Appendix A.4. Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 15 of 116

19 Figure 2: Age about half of respondents identify themselves as 60-74, or Figure 3: Adults the largest proportion of respondents report having two adults in the household. Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 16 of 116

20 Figure 4: Children most respondents chose not to respond; of those who did, the largest proportion report having no children in the household. Figure 5: Bill responsibility most respondents say they are responsible for the bill. Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 17 of 116

21 Figure 6: Metering most respondents report having a water meter at their property. Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 18 of 116

22 Chapter 3 Satisfied customers In this chapter, we look at responses to questions 1 and 2. Question 1 is an open question asking respondents what they would expect of Anglian Water s future customer service. Question 2 is a multiple-choice question concerning the level of risk acceptable in relation to people s homes being flooded by sewage. Where respondents have raised issues concerning customer services or wider concerns around sewage or wastewater flooding in response to other questions, we have included these in this chapter. The consultation document describes a good outcome in relation customer services in the following terms: We respond to customer needs with tailored, innovative services. Our processes are customer focused, and our people highly motivated and capable. Service failures are very rare and caused by factors beyond our control. If failures do occur we act promptly and effectively keeping customers up to date and doing all we can to prevent and reduce the impacts on individuals and businesses. 3.1 Future customer service The first question invites respondents to consider the future of Anglian Water s customer service, from 2015 to Q1. Thinking about our future customer service in , what would you expect us to be doing that we re not doing now? Overview of responses A total of 3,417 people responded to this question. Of those respondents who comment on the level of customer service currently provided by Anglian Water, the majority express satisfaction. They praise the company for providing excellent support and urge it to maintain its current high standards. Among those commenting on their priorities and expectations for future customer service, many say they have positive perceptions of the company. However, a few respondents caveat their support for customer services with suggestions including lower tariffs, quicker leak repairs, and more frequent meter readings. I am very happy with the way I have been treated as a customer and I would like this to continue. A large number of respondents would like to see improvements in Anglian Water customer service. They believe that customer services should aspire to be reliable, responsive, honest, accessible and friendly. A few respondents feel that customer services currently operate in a culture of compensation: that is, those who complain the most will get the best service overall. Some list specific targets or suggestions for improvement such as solving the job on the first visit, improving call back management and learning from the best practice in the field. Others stress that service levels should be sufficiently high so that customers do not need to contact customer services to have their problems solved. Some respondents compare Anglian Water to other companies. In some instances these comparisons are positive, with respondents remarking that Anglian Water is doing a good job compared to other water companies. However others believe that it is falling behind other Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 19 of 116

23 utility providers in terms of its services and level of innovation, such as use of towards smart technology. A number of respondents, including several Anglian Water employees, discuss the company s reputation and the room for improving its customer satisfaction rates to become a leader in its field. I think AW do a good job in comparison with other water companies in responding to customers operationally but the central communications needs improving [ ] Minimising the need for customers to chase us, causing repeat contact and complaints. For example to chasing meter reads, meter fits and exchanges, refunds, the setting up of unregistered properties. These processes are often seen by the customer as being too slow. This would need to be achieved by having a companywide high priority on customer service, so that we are proactive in exceeding customer expectations and this in turn will build a stronger reputation. Customer communications Employee of Anglian Water A large number of respondents see effective communication, both external and internal, as vital to good customer service. A number of Anglian Water employees stress the importance of managing customers expectations better by giving realistic deadlines and helping customers understand the company s business model. This statement is echoed by some respondents who describe negative experiences involving overly optimistic promises of visits and issue resolution and unclear information on the meter fitting process, which proved to take longer than expected. Understanding the customer s priorities in alignment with ours. As an example: if a customer has a water leak outside their house that they want fixing straight away. In most cases, however, we put a LOS [level of service] on it which the customer cannot relate to or understand. Employee of Anglian Water The customer service rep is helpful in the main but sometimes gave over-optimistic callout promises of 2-4 hours or within 24 hours which on occasion were broken. Some Anglian Water employees are more critical of the company s customer services and stipulate that customer communication failures are often a result of inefficient crossdepartmental communication and transfer of information. We report on this in more detail as part of the sub-section on operations later in this chapter. In terms of external communication, many respondents highlight the need for news and offers better publicised via a number of channels such as a regular newsletter, text messages or local newspapers. A few also call for this information to be accessible in multiple languages and to people with visual disabilities; some praise the company for its current policy to provide Braille and large print documents. Many respondents are also keen for Anglian Water to share more details about its wider work including environmental projects, new developments and mitigation being pursued, future plans, the measure of leakage repaired and water saved, water quality test results and water levels in aquifers. Alongside such information, it is also suggested that Anglian Water disseminate guidance on reducing water usage, advance notice of and reasons for increases Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 20 of 116

24 in bills, and more information on metering such as the percentage of households in one s area that are metered. A number of respondents suggest that this information could be provided in a regular e-newsletter that is circulated to customers, or that the information could be included with bills. Others express their preference for live updates via a designated Twitter account. Aside from giving a better understanding of Anglian Water s work, some suggest these updates would help local businesses plan better around potential infrastructure restrictions. Tell us the main risks, what is being done to mitigate them and who should be contacted in the event of a problem. A few respondents also believe that customer service could be more supportive of new customers by providing them with detailed introductory information in order to assist them during the transition process. A number of respondents praise Anglian Water s efforts to consult their customers, and some call for more attempts to listen to the views of the public, such as through regular consultation by post or . This point is echoed in requests for more face-to-face communication with customers and the preference for direct contact with Anglian Water employees rather than sub-contractors. Other suggestions for engagement include the company attending more local events, hosting open evenings to brief the public on future plans and provide them with the opportunity to raise questions, and offering a satisfaction survey at the end of all customer service calls. Anglian Water employees in particular emphasise the need to raise staff and operational visibility in the community in order to elevate the company s profile among its customers. It is suggested that this may also make more customers aware of the company as their wastewater services provider. Visibility is important. As a customer I like to feel that I am getting value for money and if I see Anglian Water vans/people working as I am going about my day (in much the same way as the police service when people refer to seeing 'bobbies on the beat'). By contrast other respondents state that customers do not want to be bombarded with information or interaction and that information should be restricted to essential contact related to maintaining service. They prefer the company to concentrate on delivering the service rather than public relations and promotional activities and argue that bringing water bills down should be a priority over an improved customer service. To communicate better and provide a more personalised service, some respondents suggest Anglian Water strive for a more nuanced understanding of their customers, including tracking usage and giving customers an early warning if their water usage spikes. A few recommend that customer service staff accompany engineers during their home visits to get an in-depth and first-hand knowledge of the problems customers face. In line with the idea of making customers feel valued, some suggest the introduction of a loyalty reward scheme and others, mainly Anglian Water employees, recommend putting together a set of measures to be used for all household visits. I think it would be an interesting exercise for you to understand better the demographic of your customer base. Parents with children about to leave home, people living alone or houses of multiple occupations are all likely to have differing water requirements. Discover, Discuss, Decide: Consultation Dialogue by Design 21 of 116