Southern Water Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022–23

strategy - helen

Strategy

Our planning horizons
and strategy

Vision

To create a resilient water future for our customers in the South East.

Long 25 years+ The nature of our business means we must think in long-term planning and investment cycles to make sure we can deliver on our ambitious vision: Long-term priorities • Understanding and supporting our customers • Protecting and improving the environment • Enabling and empowering our people • Ensuring a supply of high quality water for the future

Medium five years+ Our medium-term planning reflects our five-year cycle of asset management planning (AMP) periods and supports our long-term priorities: Current delivery strategy 2020–25 • Deliver great service • Use water wisely • Protect and improve the environment • Fit for the future Read more about our current performance on pages 42 to 95.

Short one to two years We have created four workstreams as part of our Turnaround Plan to make sure we are in the best possible position to deliver our ambitious plans for 2025–30. Turnaround Plan • Empowered and supported colleagues – Enabling our people to work in a safe, collaborative and inclusive workplace that o‚ers rewarding careers at the heart of our communities. • A reliable supply of water for our customers – Safeguarding resources and making sure our customers have access to a supply of high-quality water now and into the future. • Healthy seas and rivers – Protecting and improving the environment, working transparently to enhance inland and coastal habitats. • Trusted and easy customer service – Supporting our customers with easy service and transparent communications that show we care for our communities. These are underpinned by a focus on our people, IT and digitalisation and finance and e‡ciency.

Our five-year delivery strategy to 2025

Deliver great service

We are focused on delivering a great customer experience. This means resolving customer issues quickly and delivering clean, safe water, through a reliable, future-proof network, at a price that everyone can afford. We are creating assets for schools with the National Schools Partnership and opening sites across our region for school tours. We are improving online tools for customers and developers, via a new website. In terms of our operations, we will continue to upgrade our sites with a focus on improving water quality and preventing pollutions.

Use water wisely

We are investing in new technology to find and fix more leaks on our network, while we continue to upgrade and replace our mains. We are working with local authorities and developers to encourage the building of water-neutral homes. We are focused on supporting our customers to reduce their water use and we will continue to work with community partners, local businesses and customers to do this.

Protect and improve the environment

We know we need to go beyond our ambition of doing no harm to our environment and look to improve it where we can. To 2025 we are focused on delivering environmental benefits to the region’s rivers and bathing waters, while reducing flood risk, cutting our carbon footprint, and supporting schemes that improve the biodiversity of the South East. We continue to transform our sewer network, using smart technologies to predict and prevent sewer blockages and burst pipes.

Fit for the future

We work with neighbouring water companies, local partners and our regulators to create regional water resource and drainage plans looking out to 2050. We do this so we can ensure future generations enjoy the same access to water and wastewater services in the years to come as we do today. Our region is already water stressed and population growth and climate change are real challenges.

Download PDF of our operational
performance section.

Download