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.

Jersey Water has published its Annual Report and Financial Statements and Water Quality Report today and is reporting a profit of £1.593 million for the nine-month period up to 30 September 2019, following a change to its financial year-end from 31 December.

When compared to the first nine months of 2018, turnover increased by 4.4% to £13.229 million. Profit for the period stands at £1.593 million compared to £2.325 million for the same time period in 2018. The reduction in profit for the period was lower than expected and is due to a 15% increase in operating expenditure which totalled £10.643 million as the Company invested in two key strategic projects; the Water Resource Management Plan and its Digital Transformation Programme.  Operating costs were also influenced by the dry weather resulting in increased energy consumption, Brexit preparations, higher pension charges and refusal of the planning application on the proposed bypass at Val de la Mare.

Water quality in the period continued to be of a very high quality, with an overall compliance rate of 99.97% (31 December 2018: 99.99%). The water supplied by the Company was fully compliant with all regulations for nitrates and pesticides.  The Company is also reporting the results of its annual customer survey in which it outperformed both the UK Utilities sector and All-Sector benchmarks on three key customer service measures.

The first three quarters of 2019 saw £2.818 million of capital investment in the Company’s infrastructure. This included the replacement and extension of more than 2km of mains network, connection of 276 new properties to mains water, work to reduce leakage and £587,000 on improvements to the Desalination Plant.

Water resources were a key feature of the period in which rainfall was 18.8% less that the 5-year average.  The dry winter and summer meant ground water levels did not replenish and reservoir levels did not reach full until March 2019 and then only for a short while, before declining over the spring and summer to end the period at 58% full, well below the average for that time of the year.  Operation of the desalination plant commenced on 23 September 2019, for the purposes of topping up reservoir levels and testing recent modifications to the plant.

Jersey Water’s Chief Executive, Helier Smith, said:

“2019 has been a successful period for Jersey Water, during which we made significant progress on the delivery of several key strategic projects whilst ensuring that, despite challenges, we continued to supply water of the very highest standard and customer service at a level of which everyone at Jersey Water is very proud.”

“One of the key focusses on the period has been the development of the Water Resources Management Plan which has highlighted that if no action is taken, in severe drought years, there will be a growing shortfall between the demand for water and the water available for use; driven principally by the effects of climate change and predicted population growth. We are looking at a range of options to both reduce demand and increase water resources.  Our Island Plan submission made the case for a new reservoir on the site of Gigoulande Quarry that would provide much needed additional storage capacity for generations to come.”

“As an island with only 120 days of water storage when full, we are vulnerable to water shortages and drought. Over the winter period, we lose a considerable amount of water to the sea simply because we have insufficient capacity to store it.   The potential to repurpose the quarry as a water storage reservoir provides a once in a lifetime opportunity to secure a key piece of infrastructure, for the benefit of the island, that if ignored, will never present itself again.  We look forward to working further on this important strategic project with Islanders when we consult on our Water Resources Management Plan during 2020.”