Our approach is built on trust, transparency, and long-term relationships. Whether it’s through formal panels, market research, community events, or one-to-one meetings, we stay connected, because strong relationships result in better outcomes. The insights we gain directly influences everything we do, from Board decisions to strategy and social purpose.
Our plans to 2030 and our four strategic priorities are built on the priorities and feedback of our customers and communities. We know that our investment programme will take time to deliver, and customers have told us clearly that they want to be kept informed about the progress we are making, the impact of that investment, and the difference it will make locally. They have also told us that how we communicate matters, particularly during periods of change, such as bill increases, service disruption or major infrastructure works.
We know that trust matters. It is built not only through the quality of the services we deliver, but also through how we communicate, how we listen, and how we respond when things change or when customers need extra support. Over the past year, those expectations have been tested.
Customers across all our regions have continued to face cost of living pressures. At the same time, water bills have risen across the sector to support a major, regulator‑approved investment programme. We know this combination has been challenging, particularly in the South West, and we do not underestimate the impact it has had on household budgets and customer confidence.
Against this backdrop, affordability and customer experience have been central to our work. Our focus has been on responding in a way that is both compassionate and practical: keeping bills as low as possible through efficiency, expanding financial and practical support for those who need help, improving service where customers told us it was falling short, and learning quickly from feedback so that we can do better.
How we listen to customers
Customer insight underpins both our long‑term strategy and our day‑to‑day decision‑making. Our plans to 2030 are built on a deep understanding of what matters most to customers and communities, with our sector‑leading WaterShare+ panel at the heart of this approach.
Through WaterShare+, customers provide structured challenge, shape key decisions and hold us to account. We also benefitted from the opportunity to participate in Consumer Council for Water’s (CCW) WaterVoice accountability sessions, launched this year across the sector, to listen, feed back, and agree actions in respect of three issues raised by customers. The fresh perspective this brought highlighted the need for heightened communication and extensive engagement, and we welcome the opportunity to receive feedback through a different lens, on some familiar themes.
We draw on a wide range of evidence to understand customer needs and expectations. Building on our extensive PR24 research programme, we engage continuously through service surveys, post‑interaction feedback, post‑event reviews and targeted research, alongside ongoing dialogue with the WaterShare+ panel. This helps us understand not only how customers experience our services, but where expectations are changing and where we need to improve.
During 2025/26, we completed 15 post‑event feedback surveys across South West Water, Bournemouth Water and Bristol Water. Customers shared their views on how incidents were handled, including the clarity and timeliness of communication, speed of resolution, overall satisfaction and the support provided to customers on the Priority Services Register. This feedback has directly informed improvements to incident communications, service recovery arrangements and the way we help customers who need extra support.
We also use targeted research to prepare for future challenges. In the SES region, we worked with other southern water companies to understand customer priorities during periods of severe drought, shaping our approach to drought planning, demand management and customer communications.
Insight from customers is complemented by independent and comparative evidence. We triangulate our own research with wider industry insight, including CCW’s Water Matters survey, the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), business benchmarking and C‑MeX results. This ensures our priorities are evidence‑based, consistently benchmarked against peers, and aligned with what customers tell us matters most.
Taken together, this approach ensures that listening to customers is not a one‑off exercise, but an integral part of how we plan, deliver and improve services — supporting better outcomes now and improving further as we deliver our investment programme over the coming years.
Our WaterShare+ model enables customers to hold shares in Pennon Group, giving them direct ownership in their local water company. It also gives all customers the ability to speak directly with and challenge us through our open WaterShare+ customer panel meetings. This unique model allows customers a greater say in their water company, providing customers with a vital platform to engage directly with us and play an active role in shaping our decisions.
Our independent advisory panel provides review, scrutiny and challenge of Pennon Group water companies on behalf of customers. The panel is supported by expert advisers from CCW, the Environment Agency and Natural England. These advisers provide specialist insight into Company and wider industry performance. The panel also has unrestricted, independent access to the Company’s technical auditors.
During 2025/26, the panel’s focused has shifted from development of the business plan to scrutiny of implementation, challenging the Group on delivery against performance and investment commitments, alignment between delivery and customer priorities and the balance between environmental outcomes, service improvements and affordability.
WaterShare+ has significantly deepened our understanding of customer requirements and concerns, further helping us leverage these insights to inform and co-create our future plans.
