Our performance
Our business plan for the 2020-2025 period (known as AMP7) puts our customers at the heart of everything we do. We’ve engaged with 30,000 customers, along with the Yorkshire Forum for Water Customers, to understand individual lifestyles and how they shape what customers want, need and expect from us. In response to customer feedback, we’ve developed a package of 44 performance commitments for AMP7 that cover every aspect of what we do, from water source to sea.
We want our customers to know how well we’re doing against 11 of the core performance commitments, so we report our performance every 3 months and publish the results a few months afterwards. For example, our performance in April-June will be published in September. Each year, in July, we will also publish our Annual Performance Report, which will give a full in-depth update against all 44 performance commitments.
Check back again at the end of July for our next update.
See how we're doing
This is how we've performed in the last quarter (October-December 2023).
Water quality compliance (CRI)
What is it and why do we measure it?
This measures the quality of our water. We test water samples and the results give us a Compliance Risk Index (CRI) score. A lower score is better, and our score increases with each quality failure at all points in our water supply system. Water quality compliance is measured and reported on a calendar year basis.
What’s gone well this quarter?
October to December is usually the most challenging time for this commitment, but our performance this year was better than our long-term average. We found no high levels of colour, taste or odour in any of the samples we tested.
What challenges did we face this quarter?
We found one case of coliform bacteria at a large water treatment works which had a big impact on our CRI score. We also found E. coli bacteria at a site supplying Hawes in North Yorkshire, which resulted in customers having to boil water before drinking.
We’re looking to improve some chemistry processes at our Chellow water treatment site and we’re enhancing our investigation of tanks around the site to avoid potential impact on customers.
What do we have planned for next quarter?
Next quarter we’ll be continuing our projects to react to failures faster and improve monitoring at our water treatment works. We’ll also working to reduce mains sediment in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
| Year-end target | Performance to date |
|---|---|
| 0 | 7.17 |
Water supply interruptions
What is it and why do we measure it?
We know that having to cut off the water supply, for any amount of time, impacts on our customers and we want to keep interruptions to supply as low as possible. This performance commitment measures the average supply time lost per customer, across all of our customers, for interruptions that lasted three hours or more.
What’s gone well this quarter?
We’re started relining and renewing pipes in areas that have a lot of bursts. We’re also using our internal tactical planning dashboard to better understand lead measures that contribute towards supply interruptions.
What challenges did we face this quarter?
We had supply interruptions for a long time in Goole. This was caused by a mains failure and problems at the water tower. There were more interruptions when we rezoned the properties onto other supplies in the area. We also had a lot of smaller events (1-3 seconds). Because of this, we’ll probably go over our year-end target.
What do we have planned for next quarter?
We’ll continue relining and renewing pipes in areas that have a lot of bursts.
| Year-end target | Performance to date |
|---|---|
| ≤00:05:23 | 00:09:02 |
Leakage reduction
What is it and why do we measure it?
This measures the amount of water lost between our treatment works and our customers’ taps. Water is precious and it’s important we lose as little as possible, so we work hard to keep this number as low as possible.
We report how much we've reduced our water loss against our long term average of 315.3 megalitres per day. This doesn't include water lost inside buildings and homes.
What’s gone well this quarter?
We’ve performed well this quarter. Leakage was at the lowest point of the year by October. This was because of our active leakage control and pressure management though the summer. The good weather conditions meant fewer burst pipes, so we had more time to proactively look for leaks. As the weather turned cold, we started to see more leaks and bursts.
What challenges did we face this quarter?
We moved our repair and maintenance contract from dual to single supplier. This happened as the winter weather hit. This was tough but we managed it well, so it didn’t impact our performance too badly. Winter is always challenging because we need to find and fix leaks quickly.
What do we have planned for next quarter?
We’ll be doing more reactive work next quarter because the cold weather in January and February will cause more leaks and bursts.
| Year-end target | Year-end forecast |
|---|---|
| ≤11.7% | 11.7% |
Unplanned outage
What is it and why do we measure it?
It’s important that our water treatment works operate reliably. Sometimes our water treatment works shut down because of equipment failures, we call this an 'unplanned outage'. This performance commitment measures the percentage of time are treatment works are down. We want this number to be as low as possible.
What’s gone well this quarter?
We’ve been able to meet high demand this quarter by maximising a lot of our water treatment works.
What challenges did we face this quarter?
Demand has been higher than usual this quarter because of pipes freezing and thawing. Excellent planning and preparation in the lead up to these events meant we successfully managed the impact without any service interruptions.
What do we have planned for next quarter?
In the next quarter, we’ll be looking to further improve performance against this commitment and further reduce any outage impacts.
| Year-end target | Performance to date |
|---|---|
| ≤3.03% | 2.24% |
Mains repairs
What is it and why do we measure it?
We need to look after our water pipes. This performance commitment measures the number of mains repairs we carry out on our clean water mains network per 1,000 km. This number doesn’t include repairs to communication and supply pipes.
What’s gone well this quarter?
This quarter we’re under our forecasted target. This is because the weather has been more stable than previous years, so we’ve had less mains to repair than we usually do.
What challenges did we face this quarter?
Weather and leakage are the biggest challenges for this performance commitment. The milder weather has helped with both.
What do we have planned for next quarter?
There’s currently no change in our plan to achieve our forecasted target. January brings a spike in mains repairs because of the changing temperatures and is a risk we’ll continue to monitor.
| Year-end target | Performance to date |
|---|---|
| ≤178.4 | 115.63 |
Per capita consumption (PCC) reduction
What is it and why do we measure it?
Per capita consumption (PCC) is how much water the average person uses each day. It’s important we use water carefully to make sure there’s enough for everyone.
We report how much we've reduced PPC against our long term average. PCC only covers household use.
What’s gone well this quarter?
We’ve installed 1,000 flow regulators on measured households. We’ll soon start to see the benefits of this trial. We’re almost finished installing smart meters in two areas of Huddersfield. These will give us a full view of leakage and consumption in these areas to help us understand the relationship between them.
What challenges did we face this quarter?
We restarted our water efficiency home audits in February 2024. These help us educate customers on water consumption, how they can save water and install water saving devices. Our aim is to complete 1,500 audits, but the customer uptake hasn’t been as good as we’d hoped, so we’re working hard to try to improve this.
What do we have planned for next quarter?
We’ll be continuing our water efficiency home audit program. We’ll also be helping with the summer water saving campaign, which will include a water efficiency focus stand at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show.
| Year-end target | Year-end forecast |
|---|---|
| ≥8.3% | 0.9% |
Pollution incidents
What is it and why do we measure it?
We want to make sure our operations don’t harm the environment. This performance commitment measures the number of pollution incidents caused by our wastewater assets, for every 10,000km of our wastewater network. This is a calendar year measure from January to December.
What’s gone well this quarter?
Despite the high rainfall and storms, we only had one impacting pollution from our storm overflows.
What challenges did we face this quarter?
High ground water levels caused by heavy rain has left our assets stressed and a lead to a lot of reactive work.
What do we have planned for next quarter?
Next quarter we’ll be focusing on the new technology that's been installed in our sewage pumping stations. We’ll be piloting new ways of working to maximise the benefits.
| Year-end target | Performance to date |
|---|---|
| ≤22.4 | 27.94 |
Internal sewer flooding
What is it and why do we measure it?
Sometimes sewage can flood homes or business. We call this internal sewer flooding and we’re always working hard to lower the number of times this happens. This performance commitment measures the total number of internal sewer flooding incidents through the year per 10,000 sewer connections.
What’s gone well this quarter?
Our sewer maintenance programme, which focuses on hotspot areas, has allowed us to clear 985 blockages and find 1,487 defects proactively this last quarter. We’ve now installed over 37,000 customer sewer alarms and we’re on track to hit our target of 40,000. These proactive alerts helped us identify and proactively clear 729 blockages this last quarter and 1,678 so far this year.
We’re continuing to see positive engagement with our blockages campaign to raise customer awareness and engagement on not flushing unsuitable items such as wipes, sanitary products and fat, oils and grease. We’re also working with Hey Girls, who specialise in re-useable sanitary products and education. Customer research shows a positive behaviour change. Flushing the wrong things causes blockages that lead to sewer flooding, so it’s encouraging customers to help do their bit too.
What challenges did we face this quarter?
We’ve struggled this quarter because of the challenging weather conditions and increase in demand. however, we’ve seen improvements in recent weeks and will continue to work on driving down our response times to customer issues.
What do we have planned for next quarter?
Internal sewer flooding is a key priority for both us and our customers and we’re working hard to remove the risk of sewer flooding and improve our performance. We’re driving our proactive programmes and have been reviewing our methodology for a more targeted approach. We’ll continue to educate our customers on network abuse through our Network Protection Team as well as promoting our blockages campaign. We'll also be doing more work with Hey Girls in schools. We predict around 40 million opportunities see and hear our campaign messages through TV ads, radio as well as social and digital ads to support our Bin it, don’t block it campaign.
| Year-end target | Performance to date |
|---|---|
| ≤344 |
684 |
Treatment works compliance
What is it and why do we measure it?
We want to make sure we don’t harm our environment. We have permits that control our discharges into watercourses. This performance commitment measures the percentage of our treatment works that comply with their discharge permits. This is a calendar year measure from January to December.
What’s gone well this quarter?
This quarter we’ve worked hard to reduce the amount of blockages which might impact our treatment works compliance. We’re working with the Environment Agency to have clear guidelines about how water companies deal with these conditions.
What challenges did we face this quarter?
Environmental Protection Agency have set us a target of three or less fails. We’ve already had one fail at Howden but we’re confident we can meet this target.
What do we have planned for next quarter?
Denholme is currently classified as high risk. We’re working hard to improve treatment compliance and stop the site being classified as a failing treatment works.
| Year-end target | Performance to date |
|---|---|
| 100% | 99.04% |
Sewer collapses
What is it and why do we measure it?
If a part of a sewer collapses, it can block the sewer and lead to sewer flooding or pollution. This performance commitment measures the number of sewer collapses that affect our customers’ supply or the environment, per 1,000 km of our sewer network.
What’s gone well this quarter?
Performance against this measure continues to be strong and we expect to maintain this through to year-end.
What challenges did we face this quarter?
Our focus on proactive inspection and refurbishment of the network has had a knock-on benefit of reducing collapses. Our installation of 40,000 customer sewer alarms will also help this performance commitment.
What do we have planned for next quarter?
We look to maintain this excellent level of performance into the next quarter and beyond. We also hope to start seeing the benefit of the newly installed alarms.
| Year-end target | Performance to date |
|---|---|
| ≤16.11 | 6.43 |
Priority services for customers in vulnerable circumstances
What is it and why do we measure it?
Our Priority Services Register offers free extra services for our vulnerable customers who need them. We want to make sure our vulnerable customers are using this service, so this performance commitment measures the percentage of household customers who are getting support from through our Priority Services Register.
What’s gone well this quarter?
This quarter we’ve continued to grow the number of customers on our Priority Service Register. We’ve also increased contact with customers on our register to make sure their details are up to date and they’re getting the services they need.
What challenges did we face this quarter?
Although we’re contacting a lot of customers, levels of customer engagement are lower than we hoped.
What do we have planned for next quarter?
Next quarter, we’ll continue to promote our Priority Service Register and work with energy companies to make sure we’ll reaching everyone who needs extra help. We’ll also be emailing the customers on our register to make sure their details are up to date and they’re getting the services they need.
| Year-end target | Performance to date |
|---|---|
| ≥9.1% | 9.6% |
Disclaimer: The numbers we report show our year-to-date progress against regulatory targets listed in Ofwat’s Final Determination. All the numbers we report have been checked thoroughly internally. While we make every effort to report accurately, all information undergoes a final internal review and external audit each year, so numbers may differ slightly at year end. Our final annual position is reported on this website and in our Annual Performance Report. You can read more about how we check and assure our data in our Assurance Plan.
See our past performance
Want to know more?
Get in touch by emailing us at apr@yorkshirewater.co.uk.