1 Water Services Training Group 19 th Annual Conference Optimising Services Delivery in the Water Industry Radisson Blu Hotel Sligo, 3 rd September 2015

Optimising Services Delivery in the Water Industry Customer Charter / Codes of Practice Requirements John Beirne ~ Customer Strategy Manager Paul Daly ~ Workflow Specialist Irish Water

 The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) is the economic regulator for the energy industry and more recently the water industry.  In addition to economic regulation the CER has a remit to protect the interests of customers.  This is done by working with the utilities it regulates to develop a number of documents which set out the obligations the utility has to its customers.  This is an existing approach present in the energy industry that has been adapted for the water industry. Regulatory context

 Following the CER’s publication of the customer handbook Irish Water has developed and sought approval for  A customer charter  6 domestic codes of practice  Billing  Communications  Complaint management  5 non-domestic codes of practice  Billing  Communications  Complaint management . Regulatory context  Metering  Network operations  Vulnerable customers  Metering  Network operations

 Taken together this has resulted in circa 400 requirements each of which Irish Water has to evidence compliance on to the CER.  The requirements also provide a framework from which the CER can make a determination on customer complaints which may include the award of a payment to a customer.  Where Irish Water is in breach of a requirement and the customer makes a complaint a customer charter payment of €10 is payable to the customer. Regulatory context

 Many of the requirements cover the standard practices and processes of a utility and Irish Water can demonstrate compliance.  However some requirements give rise to having to develop revisions to existing water industry practices and we have worked with Local Authority representatives to understand current practices and determine if and how we can comply with the CER’s requirements.  The areas involving Local Authorities include outage reporting, WUHC incidents, non-domestic billing and complaint handling. Practical application

 Of the 400 or so requirements those associated with informing vulnerable customers of issues with their supply was seen as a priority.  The vulnerable customer code of practice covers two registers  Special services – assistance with transacting with Irish Water  Priority services – medically dependent on water  Precedent come from ESB Networks priority services register for those dependent on electricity for medical purposes. Vulnerable customers

 Irish Water has worked with 4 Local Authorities to pilot an outage reporting process with a view to having the capability to contact priority services customers.  This involved understanding existing outage reporting and ensuring the information flow could facilitate identifying priority support customers.  The pilot itself has just concluded and we are now evaluating the issues advised to us and determining the method, effort and resource needs required in Irish Water and Local Authorities for a national roll out. Pilot

Outage Portal as Catalyst LA OUTAGE PORTAL IRISH WATER CUSTOMER www

Outage Portal

LA Outage Portal Map

 Take LA information from Portal.  Draw polygon to mirror and ascertain WPRNs within.  Forward list to Customer Team.  Customer Team match to Vulnerable Customer Registers.  Abtran contact directly as per Codes of Practice. Workflow Steps

 Monday  LA upload incident to Portal  Incident received to Workflow  Polygon drawn and WPRNs (124) ascertained  One confirmed Priority Service Customer identified  Call organised Kiltyclogher

 Wednesday  LA upload incident to Portal  Incident received to Workflow  Polygon drawn and WPRNs (653) ascertained  Three confirmed Priority Service Customers identified  Calls organised Ballygar

 Why do we do all of this?  Put simply – It’s the right thing to do.  Vulnerable Customer Code of Practice.  Reduces traffic for updates & queries Why?

What’s the Size?  Outages Q  Total outages 2,020  Planned 821  Unplanned 1,199  Estimated No. Premises affected 262,171  Vulnerable Customers  Total 21,666  Special Services 20,287  Priority Services 8,025  Both 6,646

What’s the Ask? Upload Incident LA Start Date / Time LA Estimated Finish Date / TimeLA Where is affected (Map/DMA/WSZ)LA Who is affected IW Are there Priority Customers affectedIW Communicate ~ Advertise ~ Contact IW/Abtran Contact Vulnerable Customer IW/Abtran

Customer to Irish Water Abtran receives, filters and routes call through CC&B Workflow I&B team review, filter & Create Work Order LA establish actual situation on the ground & action as needed Update via Office / HHD Process repeats for each ‘Escalation’, ‘Complaint’ & ‘TD Comm’ received on any given issue. Currently approx. 300 per month. Abtran complete outgoing call to customer to advise of findings Workflow team review for unsuccessful or for Progression LA review WO - plan, prioritise & dispatch WO is released to the LA

Irish Water to Customer Let Customers know when their water will be back. Even before they know it’s off? Nationally could we start pushing information to our customer? (Shaping the future of Water Services)