Customers

To deliver value for customers, we need to understand their immediate issues, and longer-term expectations of us as their water and wastewater company. As expectations change, we need to evolve our services to ensure we meet them. We actively seek feedback on what customers think about our service so we can make our services better and address the issues that matter to them.

Environment

We depend on the environment and have a key role in protecting and enhancing it. We engage with interested groups such as environmental regulators, non-governmental organisations, campaigners and local communities to find the best ways to tackle environmental issues, such as climate change and land management. Working together is often the best way to find the right solution.

Communities

Our work puts us at the heart of local communities – places where customers and colleagues live and work. We want to support them to be stronger and increase understanding of the impact and contribution our work has. We balance decisions based on often-competing stakeholder interests and look to develop collaborative and partnership solutions where feasible.

Colleagues

We could not deliver our services without our colleagues. They know our business better than anyone, and bring a diverse range of views and experience, making them well placed to help us identify new ways of working and opportunities for improvement, which can be raised directly to the CEO through our ‘Call it Out’ initiative. We have hosted two all-colleague events in Blackpool to share our plans for AMP8.

Suppliers

Good relationships help ensure projects are delivered effectively and efficiently. Awareness of issues in the supply chain means we can address them together and become more resilient. Supplier engagement can also help us identify and realise innovative approaches and solutions. We engaged the supply chain early and have already appointed several contract partners for AMP8.

Investors

It is important that investors have confidence in the organisation and how it is managed. We provide regular updates to debt and equity investors and meet with many top investors to establish two-way dialogue about matters of interest to them. Increasingly, this includes environmental, social and governance (ESG) updates alongside financial and performance data.

Media

The media is influenced by current public interests and, in turn, the media also has the power to influence the public through what it reports. Many people hear about us and our activities from traditional and/or social media, so it is important that coverage is fair, balanced and accurate. This requires effective two-way dialogue, and we continuously engage with local and national media on important issues.

Politicians

Politicians influence the long-term national water strategy and environmental priorities, matters that affect how all businesses operate, and champion issues raised by their constituents. Local government, elected representatives and devolved administrations provide insight into shared ESG and economic issues across the North West.

Regulators

Through proactive, constructive engagement with economic, quality and environmental regulators, we understand requirements and deliver against commitments, aiming to meet, or exceed, the expectations they have of our business. We actively engage in workshops and respond to consultations to contribute towards the policy and regulatory framework.