Southern Water has reaffirmed its commitment to helping vulnerable customers including with their bills.
The Consumer Council for Water’s (CCW) annual survey results announced today (August 5) highlights that 1 in 10 have difficulties paying their bills while about a third have little awareness of the help available to them. The survey also shows that more customers are satisfied they get value for money from their water company than the previous year.
In 2019-20 our services cost customers £1.20 a day and before lockdown, we announced that the average Southern Water household bill will fall by £50 for the year 2020-21 (more on this here https://www.southernwater.co.uk/the-news-room/the-media-centre/2020/february/average-household-water-and-wastewater-bill-will-fall-by-almost-50-this-year).
Vulnerability Manager for Southern Water, Rachel-Ryan Crisp, said: “We’re driven to identify and give as much help as possible to our vulnerable customers. We have our Priority Services Register in place, along with special financial services and tariffs for our customers who need them.
“As part of our response to Covid-19, we reached out to all of our customers to encourage those in a vulnerable position to sign-up to our register. We announced changes this year where appointed family members can sign-up and get in touch with us on behalf of a vulnerable customer. We also have been working with other companies to reach groups of people that may need our help.
“We look forward to working with CCW and others to further raise awareness of the help available to vulnerable customers.”
Southern Water announced it was working with SSEN and Citizens Advice Hampshire to deliver the Home & Well project in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. This focuses on older and more vulnerable customers who need support with their utilities returning home from a hospital stay. More on this can be read here: https://www.southernwater.co.uk/the-news-room/the-media-centre/2020/june/home-well-project-in-hampshire-and-isle-of-wight-now-extra-important-during-covid-19
We also announced in April that it was working with other utility networks to give a £500,000 boost to local community foundations to help vulnerable people during the pandemic.
More recently in June, we joined forces with other utility companies for those who need extra help during a water, electricity or gas emergency. They have created a joint video to promote the Priority Services Register, a service that all utilities provide for people needing extra support for a variety of reasons.
To contact us and find out about the help available for vulnerable customers visit https://www.southernwater.co.uk/account/help-paying-your-bill