Jersey Water has published its Annual Report and Financial Statements and is reporting a profit before tax of £3.240 million, this represents a 16% increase on the equivalent 12-month period in 2019. The increase in profit was largely driven by a 3.4% reduction in operating costs offsetting a small decrease (0.8%) in turnover. A planned tariff increase in April was postponed for 6 months with customer charges remaining at 2019 levels until October.
Despite the challenges of the year presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company maintained its supply of safe high-quality water on which the Island depends. The water supplied by the Company during 2020 was of a very high quality with an overall compliance rate of 99.98% with no instances of pesticides or nitrates exceeding regulatory limits in treated water. Bacteriological compliance of water leaving the Treatment Works was for another year 100%. A total of £3,553k was invested on a capital expenditure programme for the year which included investing £1,020k in infrastructure to improve water quality and resilience, £1,188k on the mains network including the renewal of 1.2km and the extension of 2.0km, bringing high-quality mains water to 470 additional properties.
Jersey Water’s key priorities throughout the pandemic have been to protect the health and well-being of employees and customers. Following the introduction of COVID-19 restrictions in March, the Company encouraged any customer concerned about paying their bill to contact them to discuss their individual circumstances. The Customer Services Team worked closely with each customer to create a tailored payment plan and will continue to work with all customers in financial hardship caused by the pandemic. In further support of our customers during these unprecedented times the Company is confirming that there will be no further price increases until January 2022.
The Company prides itself on providing a safe and resilient supply of water at a fair and affordable price whilst delivering a high standard of customer service. To achieve this, Jersey Water plays close attention to all customer feedback including compliments and complaints and in particular the results of the annual Institute of Customer Services (ICS) survey. The Company are delighted with this year’s results, which show a customer satisfaction score of 86.1% (2.1% higher than the previous year).
Jersey Water’s Chief Executive, Helier Smith, said: “I am immensely proud of how our team at Jersey Water responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, going above and beyond, and putting the needs of the community for a reliable supply of high-quality water throughout lockdown above their own.
“Whilst the year has been overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been a successful period for Jersey Water. We adapted our operational routines and were able to mitigate, to some extent, the effects of the pandemic on our financial performance and the important projects we have underway, minimising delays and making meaningful progress on a broad front.
“A key project during 2020, has been the development of our water resources management plan, which we will be publishing in 2021. During the year we developed the preferred package of measures that we will adopt to address the forecast future deficit in water resources. The initial five-year phase of the plan will focus on creating additional desalination capacity through the extension of the existing plant and reducing demand for water, through the development of a Water Efficiency Strategy and further reductions in leakage. Subsequent phases of our plan will concentrate on increased resilience, additional sources of water and further reservoir capacity.
Click here to view the 2020 Jersey Water Annual Report & Accounts.