News

The FTSE 100 company highlighted a number of areas where it had performed well as it looks to build for the period between 2020 and 2025, when it is planning to cut bills by a further 5%. Meaning it will continue to offer the lowest average combined water and waste bills in Britain, as it has done since 2010.

The company has also pledged to cut leakage by a further 15% while also looking to become a more socially purposeful business.

Highlights of the six months included:

• At £340m in the half-year, the company is on track to invest more in infrastructure this year than for any year in the last decade, with projects including:
• Completion of Ambergate service reservoir in Derbyshire 18 months ahead of schedule;
• Commissioning of Minworth thermal hydrolysis plant just outside Birmingham two months ahead of plan; and
• Near completion of the new Birmingham Resilience Programme pipeline, with good progress being made on the new pumping station by the River Severn.
• Installation of more than 10,000 fixed acoustic loggers in areas of the highest risk of bursts, with a further 7,500 to be installed allowing us to find and fix leaks much more quickly;
• Extension of our satellite trial to spot leaks from space and of the award-winning leak detecting robot programme;
• Reduction of water quality complaints by 6%; and
• FaceTime and Skype video calls between customers and Severn Trent technicians which is helping to reduce fix times by a third.

Severn Trent has also been acknowledged as one of only a handful of UK companies, and the only utility, as a Pathfinder company by the Purposeful Company Task Force, recognising the journey the company has been on since 2015.

Liv Garfield, Severn Trent Chief Executive, said: “We’re putting in place investment and innovation to stand us in good stead for years to come.

“We’re always striving to do more to ensure our customers have a great service every time from us.

“We believe that if we’re united by a clear social purpose, we’ll deliver better outcomes for all our stakeholders – our customers, our colleagues, our investors, the communities we live in and the environment that we depend on.”

As part of that journey, Severn Trent has developed a number of programmes to benefit the communities in which it operates, including:

• New community dividend which will be given to local communities through volunteering, donations to the Severn Trent Trust Fund, and a new commitment to use 1% of company profits for community schemes;
• With a third of the UK’s social mobility ‘coldspots’ in the Severn Trent region the company already focuses its apprenticeships and graduate schemes in those areas, and will be doing the same for its general recruitment going forward; and
• An innovative new education roadshow that is being offered all primary schools in the region, that aims to inspire the next generation of water users and leave a positive water legacy.