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Consumers could be allowed to attend water company board meetings under new rules proposed by the regulator.
Companies may survey and research customers to understand their views, involve them in decision-making and seek feedback on consumers’ experience.
Under the suggested reforms by regulator Ofwat, customer voices could be heard by making changes to a company’s governing body, the board of directors.
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The obligation to hear billpayers’ views could be met by boards allocating time for consumer matters, arranging for consumer experts to attend, holding open board meetings for the public, or by having an independent director with a consumer focus.
Boards could also comply by arranging for independent consumer experts, such as the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), to regularly attend.
Topics that consumers will have to be consulted on include the cost of bills, performance of key water services, support when things go wrong – like water outages – and the company’s investment priorities.
When decisions likely to materially impact consumers are made, the water company needs to have clear processes to ensure consumers are involved, Ofwat said.
As well as including water users in decision-making, utilities will have to work to understand how decisions impact consumers so those views are taken into account in future decisions.
Seeking this feedback must involve engaging with the new consumer panels being developed by the CCW to hold companies to account, Ofwat’s rules outline.
Why’s this being done?
It’s all part of the…
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