South West Water has announced a first of its kind customer incentive scheme, asking everyone in Cornwall to come together to help recharge reservoir levels, as part of building longer term resilience.
“Stop the Drop” will see customers offered a financial incentive to encourage them to reduce consumption in exchange for a rebate on their bill. If Colliford reservoir recovers to 30% by 31 December 2022, customers in Cornwall will receive a £30 rebate on their bill.
2022 has seen the lowest level of rainfall in the South West for 130 years, which has been combined with a very hot summer and elevated customer demand. Whilst the majority of South West Water’s customers have remained unaffected during this period, significant pressure has been placed on water resources in parts of the region, with river flows and reservoir levels in Cornwall reaching historically low levels this summer.
If Colliford reservoir recovers to 30% capacity by 31 December 2022, the payment of the financial incentive to customers would result in a reduction to (non-underlying) revenue of c.£10 million in H2 2022/23. In addition, south west water would also anticipate lower customer demand which would be reflected in underlying revenue as customer behaviour changes.
Investing in resilience
South West Water is also accelerating initiatives of up to £20 million to help secure supplies. This includes investment in Hawkstor reservoir, purchased earlier in 2022 and work at three other water sources in Cornwall. Alongside providing over 45,000 water saving devices to customers, South West Water will continue with targeted operational activities such as customer side leak repairs. The new capital investments will be reflected in South West Water’s regulatory capital value.
The Group is also pursuing longer-term investments to secure future supplies, including the new Cheddar 2 reservoir in the Bristol region which will be included in South West Water’s forthcoming Water Resources Management Plan.
As part of South West Water’s Green Recovery investment to 2025, over £27 million will be invested in the water grid, improving their ability to move water throughout the region to where it is needed the most.
