5 October 2016

South Staffs Water, the drinking water supplier for homes and businesses in the West Midlands, is celebrating a double success after being officially recognised for providing exceptional levels of service to its customers.

The water company has been awarded third place in Ofwat’s coveted customer service league table, in which the regulator ranks each of the UK’s 18 water and sewerage companies on a range of performance measures.

It has also received credit from the industry’s watchdog, the Consumer Council for Water, as the company with the third lowest number of customer complaints achieved through a fall of 32.5% on the previous year.

Rachel Barber, Customer Service Director for South Staffs Water, said: “We are exceptionally proud to have been recognised in quick succession for providing excellent and improving levels of service for our customers.

“When you combine this with the fact that South Staffs Water’s bills are among the lowest in the country, it demonstrates our strong commitment to putting customers first.”

The water company has been ranked in the top four companies in every year since the measure was introduced in 2011/12. 

Rachel added: “We know how important it is to listen to our customers and respond to what they tell us. We continually use their feedback to make improvements. For example, in the past year we have invested in a new website so customers can pay bills and provide meter readings when and where they want. We’ve also introduced a new tariff, Assure, that helps people who are facing difficulties paying their water charges by offering a reduction of up to 80%.

“To help us plan for the future and ensure we continue to provide a reliable, safe supply, we’ve also invested more than £33 million over the past year in our pipework, reservoirs and pumping stations.

“I would particularly like to thank our employees and our partners for their hard work each and every day and the effort they make to listen to our customers.”

Six ways South Staffs Water is helping customers:

1. High quality drinking water – we’re committed to providing a high quality supply to all of our customers. 

2. Keeping bills affordable - our bills are among the lowest in the country and on average won’t rise above inflation for the next four years. We have lots of ways to help customers who are struggling to pay their water bill.

3. Making life easy –My Account offers customers 24/7 online access to their water account so they can make transactions, or update details at any time.

4. Investing in the future – we’ve invested £33million in our pipes, treatment plants,  reservoirs, water towers and pumping stations  in 2015/16 to make sure we deliver water to our 1.6m customers when they want it.

5. Talking and listening to customers – we continuously ask our customers how satisfied they are with our overall service through a series of independent surveys. Our target is 98% customer satisfaction.

6. Making a difference to our communities – over the past year we’ve supported more than 30 local projects.

For more details visit www.south-staffs-water.co.uk

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