Our performance targets from 2020 – 2025

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Abstraction Incentive Mechanism (AIM)

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2019-20 Baseline:
0 Megalitres (Ml)
2024-25 Target:
2,843.40 Megalitres (Ml)

Definition

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This metric relates to a specific commitment within our plan to reduce abstraction at the Shipton Moyne system (an environmentally sensitive area), at times when the system is most at risk from low local groundwater levels.

Performance is measured as the Ml reduction in abstraction during times of low groundwater level.

Performance

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Our reduced abstraction at this site during low flows will help to protect the local environment.

Additional information

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Chapter 8 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Average household bills

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2019-20 average bill:
£183 p.a.
2024-25 average bill:
£172 p.a.

Definition

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Average household bill in 2017/18 prices before an estimate of inflation

Performance

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Our bills decreased by £28 (14%) in 2015 and have subsequently increased by less than RPI inflation since then. Our business plan anticipates bills to reduce by 4.5% in 2020 and will continue to reduce until at least 2025 (before inflation).

Bills can however, go up or down slightly depending on how we perform against our commitments. We have proposed a cap to ensure that this factor will not impact the average bill by more than £4 per annum.

Additional information

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Chapter 8 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

You can find out more about how our bills compare to those of other water companies through the Discover Water website: https://discoverwater.co.uk/annual-bill

Biodiversity Index

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2019-20 Baseline:
17659
2024-25 Target:
17711

Definition

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This metric provides a measure of the health of our local environment and the impact of the improvements which we make. Biodiversity is a term used for the variety of species in a habitat.

Our metric is based both on the amount and quality of habitat that we own or look after.

Performance

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Our customers have told us that the environment is important to them, although there are generally mixed views on the level of importance is relation to other improvements.

Based on what you have said to us, we aim to deliver significant improvements to our sites. These improvements are roughly equivalent to around 5 hectares of high quality new habitat.

Additional information

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Chapter 8 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Further information about plans to improve the environment can be found on our webpage: https://www.bristolwater.co.uk/home/things-to-do/discover-our-lakes

Customer contacts about water quality – appearance

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2019-20 Baseline:
0.93 Contacts per 1,000 people
2024-25 Target:
0.43 Contacts per 1,000 people

Definition

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This metric measures the number of times we are contacted by our customers about the appearance of our tap water (per 1,000 people supplied) in the calendar year.

The two main causes for water not being clear are:

  1. Disturbance of harmless deposits in our pipes making the water brown, black or orange. This may occur if there is a burst main or a leak
  2. Air or chalk suspended in the water, making it appear white. Again these are harmless to customers.

Performance

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Our conversations with customers found that the appearance of your tap water is important to you and you value an improvement.

Overall, customers supported a level of investment which will result in you being around half as likely to need to contact us about the appearance of your water in future.

Additional information

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Chapter 9 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

You can find out more about how our performance in this are compares to other water companies by using the Discover Water website: https://discoverwater.co.uk/colour

Customer contacts about water quality – taste and smell

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2019-20 Baseline:
0.44 Contacts per 1,000 people
2024-25 Target:
0.25 Contacts per 1,000 people

Definition

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This metric measures the number of times we are contacted by customers about the taste or smell of their tap water (per 1,000 people supplied) in the calendar year.

The main causes for water tasting or smelling different are:

  1. The use of chlorine to maintain good hygiene in the pipe network
  2. Seasonal water quality effects creating a musty smell or earthy taste
  3. A change in where your water comes from or how it is treated
  4. Pipes within you property, which can cause metallic, salt, rubbery or earthy tastes.

Performance

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Overall, customers supported a level of investment which will result in you being almost half as likely to need to contact us about the appearance of your water in future.

Additional information

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Section 9 of the Business Plan, available on our website

You can find out more about how our performance in this are compares to other water companies by using the Discover Water website: https://discoverwater.co.uk/taste

Customer measure of experience (C-MeX)

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Measurement:

C-MeX score

2019-20 Baseline:
TBC by Ofwat
2024-25 Target:
TBC by Ofwat

Definition

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This metric will measure the level of customer satisfaction with the services we provide, as well as their perception about Bristol Water as a company overall.

Performance

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As the industry metric is still being developed by Ofwat, we have had conversations with customers about our performance based on the UK Customer Satisfaction Index, which allows us to compare our customer service performance with not only other water companies, but other utility companies and well known retailers as well.

Our customers told us that, although we already perform quite well, they would value an improvement in our customer service. Based on customer views, we have set ourselves the challenging aspiration of being the top performing utility company in the UK.

Additional information

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Chapter 7 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Developer services measure of experience (D-MeX)

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Measurement:

D-MeX score

2019-20 Baseline:
TBC by Ofwat
2024-25 Target:
TBC by Ofwat

Definition

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This metric measures the level of service which we provide when we make a new connection to our network, working with developers, ‘self-lay providers’, or other operators working on our area.

Performance

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As D-MeX is a new performance commitment, we have not yet been able to set ourselves targets. We have however, identified a range of improvements that we will make to the services which we provide.

Additional information

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Chapter 7 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Further information on the services we provide to developers and SLPs can be found on our webpage: https://www.bristolwater.co.uk/business-developers/

Leakage (annual)

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Measurement:

Megalitres per day (Ml/d)

2019-20 Baseline:
43.0 Ml/d
2024-25 Target:
36.5 Ml/d

Definition

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Leakage is the quantity of water lost from our system, normally due to a burst pipe or leaking joints.

Performance

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We recognise that leakage is a really important issue to customers and you see it being a waste of resources.

We have already made significant reductions to leakage levels and are one of the best performers in the industry, with one of the lowest levels of leakage.

Nonetheless, based on the level of reduction that you tell us that you value, we have set ourselves a target of reducing leakage by a further 15% by 2025. This level of reduction forms an important part of our plan to balance water demand with available water supply, without needing to develop new resources such as a reservoir.

Additional information

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Chapter 8 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

You can find out more about how our performance in this are compares to other water companies by using the Discover Water website: https://discoverwater.co.uk/leaking-pipes

Local community satisfaction

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Measurement:

% stakeholder satisfaction

2019-20 Baseline:
75%
2024-25 Target:
85%

Definition

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This is a measure of our contribution to our local communities.

It measures the percentage of stakeholders within our supply area who are satisfied with the contribution we have made based on a set of agreed commitments.

Performance

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We are a socially responsible company and it is important to us to make a positive contribution to our local communities as well as working with local partners to help to achieve our common goals

The specified initiatives within our business plan include:

  1. A commitment to improving education and awareness of water issues: such as the number of pupils receiving a school talk on environmental matters/water efficiency or the number of initiatives undertaken as a result of the Bristol Water Youth Board;
  2. A commitment to community leadership: such as the number of new water fountains opened within our supply area, which builds upon the success of the water fountains opened in Millennium Square and Queens Square;
  3. Our support for the Bristol Refill campaign;
  4. Our academic partnerships, such as our water efficiency test site with the University of West of England;
  5. Our contribution to the Bristol City Mayor and West of England Combined Authority Regional strategies. An example includes the Active Roadworks initiative.
  6. Our commitment to community engagement: such as the satisfaction with support to the festivals / community events that the Company has attended;
  7. Our commitment to improving our customers’ experiences and opportunities at our lakes and recreational facilities;
  8. To roll out the use of the Biodiversity Index toolkit where we work on land that we do not own;
  9. To work with Wessex Water to understand our combined environmental impact and to provide joint billing messages;
  10. To work with Bristol Waste on resource efficiency messages;
  11. To form an active network on best practice around resource efficiency engagement with west of England utility companies;
  12. To expand and align our vulnerability support with Wessex and other utilities.

Additional information

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Chapter 8 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Mains Bursts

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2019-20 Baseline:
142 Mains bursts per 1,000km
2024-25 Target:
133 Mains bursts per 1,000km

Definition

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Pipes can burst for many reasons, and a burst pipe is the most common cause of loss of water supply. We have some of the oldest pipes in the country, so we have an ongoing maintenance and replacement programme to keep them performing well.

This metric measures the number of mains bursts per thousand kilometres of total length of mains.

Performance

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Burst mains are an indicator of the health of our pipes, so we aim to keep the number of bursts stable over a long period of time as a minimum. The improvement that we forecast reflects the benefit from our activities to reduce leakage and supply interruptions.

Additional information

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Chapter 9 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

You can find out more about how our performance in this are compares to other water companies by using the Discover Water website: https://discoverwater.co.uk/loss-of-supply

Meter penetration

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2019-20 Baseline:
65.9% metered supplies
2024-25 Target:
75.0% metered supplies

Definition

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This metric measures the proportion of household properties that are being charged based on the amount of water that they use.

Performance

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Metering is widely regarded as the fairest way to pay for water. Our customers on the whole do not wish to see full compulsory metering of all our household customers.

We will continue to promote metering through our ‘Beat the Bill’ programme, which allows you to see whether your bill would be lower with a meter.

We will also continue to meter properties when ownership changes.

Our target is based our forecast of meter uptake and number of house moves from properties which do not currently have meter.

Additional information

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Chapter 8 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

You can find out more about how our performance in this are compares to other water companies by using the Discover Water website: https://discoverwater.co.uk/amount-we-use

For information on applying for a water meter: https://www.bristolwater.co.uk/home/account-and-services/water-meter

Per Capita Consumption (PCC) (annual)

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Measurement:

Litres per head per day (l/h/d)

2019-20 Baseline:
142 l/h/d
2024-25 Target:
135 l/h/d

Definition

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This metric measures the average amount of water used by each of our customers.

Performance

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We are targeting a 5% reduction in water use. This reflects the continuation of our metering programme for customers who request a meter, and metering houses when ownership changes. We are also working with partners to help customers to reduce water wastage within their homes.

Additional information

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Chapter 8 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

You can find out more about how our performance in this are compares to other water companies by using the Discover Water website: https://discoverwater.co.uk/amount-we-use

Percentage of customers in water poverty

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2019-20 Baseline:
0% customers in water poverty
2024-25 Target:
0% customers in water poverty

Definition

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This metric measures the percentage of customers within our supply area who are likely to struggle most with paying their water bill. It measure the number of households for whom their water bill represents more than 2% of their disposable income (defined as gross income minus income tax).

We can influence our performance through the level of our water bill and the assistance that we provide to those struggling through our social tariffs.

Performance

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In 2017/18 we achieved zero customers in water poverty for the first time. We are proud of this level of performance and have set ourselves the challenging target of maintaining it in future.

Additional information

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Chapter 7 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

You can find further information and support on the range of social tariffs we have available on our website https://www.bristolwater.co.uk/home/account-and-services/bills-and-payments/struggling-to-pay

Percentage of satisfied vulnerable customers

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2019-20 Baseline:
New Measure
2024-25 Target:
85% customer satisfaction

Definition

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We offer extra support to those customers who need it. This metric measures how satisfied these customers are with the level of assistance given.

Performance

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Our extra care services for ‘vulnerable’ customers include for example, delivery of bottled water during a supply interruption, minicom services for deaf customers, bills in brail for blind customers and translated bills for customers who struggle to read the bill in English. Customers who would like these services can register through our Priority Services Register.

We have based on target based on feedback from our customers on the level of investment they would like to see.

Additional information

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Chapter 7 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

You can find further information and support on the extra care services we offer on our website https://www.bristolwater.co.uk/home/account-and-services/your-account/priority-services

Population at Risk from Asset Failure

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Measurement:

No. of people (population)

2019-20 Baseline:
832,886 people
2024-25 Target:
290,000 people

Definition

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This metric is related to the potential occurrence of a severe interruption to supply, one which lasts over 24 hours.

As part of our next round of investment, we aim to protect customers in towns where the population is greater than 10,000 people. The metric measures the number of people in towns of this size who will continue to be a risk from a severe interruption to supply by 2025.

Performance

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We have recently finished a programme of work to protect towns which have over 25,000 people from the risk of a severe interruption to supply by installing a major new water main which could be used as an alternative source of supply should there be an issue.

As part of this next programme of investment we will extend the level of protection from a failure of any critical assets within these areas which could result in a supply interruption of over 24 hours.

In addition, over a period of ten years, we will also protect towns with a population of over 10,000 people from the risk of a sever supply interruption due to a failure in one of these critical assets.

A 10-year programme was the one which customers favoured, providing a balance between speed of improvement and impact on their bills.

Additional information

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Chapter 9 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Properties at risk of receiving low pressure

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2019-20 Baseline:
69 properties
2024-25 Target:
60 properties

Definition

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Low pressure can occur temporarily as a result of a burst main or a leak in one of our pipes.

This metric measures persistent low pressure, which affects a very low number of our customers.

Performance

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Our customers have told us that alleviating low pressure is not one of their top priorities.

We will work to alleviate persistent low pressure where the costs are not prohibitively expensive. As we resolve issues for some properties, we expect issues to reported for other properties, with a net reduction in our low pressure register of 9 properties by 2025.

Additional information

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Chapter 9 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

If you are experiencing no water or low pressure check our "in your area" map as a this will tell you about any known problems: https://inyourarea.digdat.co.uk/bristolwater

You can find out more about how our performance in this are compares to other water companies by using the Discover Water website: https://discoverwater.co.uk/water-pressure

Raw Water Quality of Sources

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Measurement:

Kg of phosphorus loss reduction achieved by our catchment management schemes

2019-20 Baseline:
0Kg
2024-25 Target:
531Kg

Definition

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This metric measures the effectiveness of our catchment management activities. We work with farmers to modify their farming practices so that lower levels of nutrients enter our raw water supplies (the inputs to our treatment works).

An assessment of our progress in implementing catchment management of nutrients across our catchments, the measure relates to the level of nutrient loss reduction, modelled as kg of phosphorus not lost to the environment as a result of the interventions taken up by farmers across source catchments.

Performance

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We have set ourselves challenging targets to work with farmers through catchment management to benefit the local environment.

Additional information

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Chapter 8 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Customers can find further information on our catchment management initiatives on our website: https://www.bristolwater.co.uk/about-us/catchment-management/

Risk of severe restrictions in a drought

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2019-20 Baseline:
0% customer population
2024-25 Target:
0% customer population

Definition

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This metric provides a measure of the likelihood of us needing to restrict your water supply due to a drought.

It is based on the percentage of our customers at risk of experiencing severe water restrictions (for example, standpipes or rota cuts as part of Emergency Drought Orders - EDOs) in a very severe drought – one which would only occur once every 200 years on average.

Performance

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Our target is to maintain the top level of performance, which means that it is extremely unlikely that we will ever need to restrict the supply of water to our customers due to a drought.

Additional information

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Chapter 9 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Further information on our 25 year plans for balancing customer demand for water with levels of supply can be found in our Water Resources Management Plan: https://www.bristolwater.co.uk/about-us/our-plans/water-resources/

Supply Interruptions

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2019-20 Baseline:
12.2 Minutes / property / year
2024-25 Target:
1.8 Minutes / property / year

Definition

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Keeping water flowing to your tap is an essential part of our role. Supply interruptions are defined as when properties are without a continuous supply of water (for three or more hours), due to either planned or unplanned interruptions.

These interruptions are reported as the average number of minutes each household property experiences in the year, based on the total properties the company serves.

Performance

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Reliability of supply was found to be one of our customers’ top priorities and we found from our research that our customers supported a significant level of improvement.

Our target reflects our forecast for the industry upper quartile. This is an approach Ofwat had proposed every company take across the industry.

Performance targets may be reset each year based on the actual upper quartile in the previous year. By definition, not every company will be able to achieve upper quartile performance.

Additional information

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Chapter 9 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

You can find out more about how our performance in this are compares to other water companies using the Discover Water website: https://discoverwater.co.uk/loss-of-supply

Turbidity performance at treatment works

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Measurement:

No. of failures

2019-20 Baseline:
0 failures
2024-25 Target:
0 failures

Definition

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This is a measure of the health of our water treatment works as turbidity (cloudy water) can be a sign of an issue with one of our treatment processes.

The measure is based on the number of works with turbidity above a certain level.

Performance

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Our performance against this metric has always been excellent, as we haven’t yet had any failing works. We plan to continue this level of performance in the future.

Additional information

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Chapter 9 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Unplanned maintenance – non-infrastructure

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Measurement:

No. of jobs

2019-20 Baseline:
3976 jobs
2024-25 Target:
3272 jobs

Definition

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This metric is measure of the health of our treatment works. It records the number of times we had to undertake unplanned maintenance due to the failure or reduced performance of a part of the equipment.

Performance

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We aim to improve in this area so that our works run as efficiently as possible. We have set ourself a challenging target based on our analysis using our best levels of historical performance.

Additional information

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Chapter 9 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Unplanned Outage

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Measurement:

Proportion of unplanned outage of the total company production capacity

2019-20 Baseline:
1.74
2024-25 Target:
1.74

Definition

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This metric measures the reliability of our treatment works. It measures the percentage of our water treatment capacity which is unavailable for use over the course of the year. It is based on unplanned outages for our treatment works which last over 24 hours.

The metric is used for assessing asset health for water treatment activities.

Performance

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We are not yet able to assess how we perform compared to others, as this is a new industry wide measure. We have set out target level of performance based on our average historical performance.

Additional information

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Chapter 9 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Value for money

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Measurement:

% respondents to survey

2019-20 Baseline:
72%
2024-25 Target:
83%

Definition

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This metric measures the percentage of customers within our supply area who consider that we provide good value-for-money.

Performance

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It is important to us that customers think that we are doing a good job. One of the ways of measuring this is by asking customers whether they think we are providing value for money.

Over the next five years we plan to improve the services which we provide to you whilst reducing the overall level of the bill (before inflation). We have set ourselves a challenging target which includes a significant increase in the number of customers who think that we provide value for money. This would make us one of the best performing companies in this area.

Additional information

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Chapter 7 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Void properties

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2019-20 Baseline:
1.9% connected properties
2024-25 Target:
1.8% connected properties

Definition

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This metric measures the percentage of properties which are registered with us as being vacant and do not therefore receive a bill.

Performance

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We keep a close eye on the number of properties which are registered with us as being vacant, as we recognise that now and again, there are properties which are actually occupied and using water without receiving a bill. This means that other customers are effectively subsidising their water use. This is not fair to our bill paying customers and so we have set ourselves a target to reduce our level of void properties.

Our metering programme will help to do this and by 2025 we will bill around 1,000 more properties which would previously have been classified as voids.

Additional information

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Chapter 7 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) Compliance

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2019-20 Baseline:
100% compliance with WINEP
2024-25 Target:
100% compliance with WINEP

Definition

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The metric will measure compliance with requirements of the Environment Agency’s Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP).

The WINEP sets out the actions Bristol Water must complete to meet our environmental obligations.

Performance

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Our WINEP requirements include:

  1. The development of a Biodiversity Action Plan linked our Biodiversity Index;
  2. Keeping track of and reducing invasive non-native species on our sites;
  3. Investigating potentially harmful abstractions and considering alternative options;
  4. Continuing our work to reduce any negative effects of our reservoirs on the environment in downstream rivers;
  5. Undertaking investigations to determine causes of catchment water quality issues, and the potential to improve raw water quality using innovative approaches;
  6. Implementing programmes of catchment management to improve water quality in certain sources, and to maintain the condition of our most special sites which are of national importance;
  7. Implementing eel protection to meet regulatory standards and requirements.

Additional information

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Chapter 8 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Waste disposal compliance

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Measurement:

% waste disposal compliance

2019-20 Baseline:
96%
2024-25 Target:
100%

Definition

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This metric measures whether we meet environmental standards for the water we use at our treatment works, which is returned to a river rather than being treated for drinking water (for example, water that is used for cleaning out settlement tanks on site).

Performance

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We plan to deliver the top level of performance and meet these environmental standards all of the time in future.

Additional information

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Chapter 8 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

Water Quality Compliance

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Measurement:

Compliance risk index

2019-20 Baseline:
1.27
2024-25 Target:
0

Definition

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Drinking water must meet strict standards to ensure that it is safe to drink, and that the quality is acceptable to consumers.

The Compliance Risk Index (CRI) is a measure of the risk of issues with the quality of drinking water.

Performance

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We recognise that safe drinking water is a top priority for our customers. We plan to achieve the top level of performance against this metric to minimise the risk of any issues.

Additional information

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Chapter 9 of Section A1 of our business plan, available on our website.

We have introduced a postcode search so customers can find out the hardness of the water in their area as well as details of how we treat your water and where it comes from. Simply go to our "Work in your area" map and put your postcode into the top right hand corner and press enter. You will then see a button in the top left hand corner saying "Water Quality", click this for the details.

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