Supporting society and building resilience

Despite a challenging year shaped by extreme weather and major supply incidents, we have deepened our commitment to our customers, local communities, and network resilience.

Through targeted vulnerability support, water efficiency campaigns and infrastructure investments, we are transforming our operations to deliver an inclusive, reliable service.

We have significantly expanded our care for vulnerable households. As of March 31, 2026, enrolment in our Priority Services Register (PSR) rose strongly to 212,320 customers (22.88 per cent of our customer base), up from 130,452 in the previous year. To maintain accurate contact details for emergency support, we also launched a digital exclusion campaign, reaching 8,000 customers by mail.

Financially, we supported 78,664 customers (more than eighth per cent increase) via our social tariff, the eligibility for which was expanded to align with the UK benefits cap, and capped bills for 7,897 customers through WaterSure.

New partnerships with the National Support Network and Policy in Practice (via the "Better Off Calculator") have streamlined access to external aid. Our inclusive efforts were validated by the retention of the gold-standard BSI Inclusive Service Kitemark and the introduction of a free SignVideo translation service for deaf and hard-of-hearing customers. Community outreach also thrived, with £20,000 distributed to local charities via our Community Chest charitable fund.

In response to worsening extreme weather, we launched our summer water efficiency campaign early, utilising television advertising for the first time. By using television advertising, we were able to target specific messaging about water reductions to those customers with the greatest opportunity to reduce, for example, those with gardens. Our smart metering rollout began strongly in Canterbury and Whitstable, with 13,413 meters exchanged, beating our 12,500 target.

Additionally, we completed 1,703 household leak-check visits, saving 100,000 litres of water daily, and distributed 153,153 free water-saving devices.

Education remains a priority. A new Water Efficiency Education Lead redeveloped our curriculum and water-saving audits at 75 schools saved an average of 1,000 litres per school daily.

Following major supply disruptions in Pembury and Tunbridge Wells, where we delivered 38,715 packs of bottled water to PSR customers, we have improved our network resilience. We are expanding our Central Operations team by 40 per cent and deploying 27 new distribution technicians to provide 24/7 proactive monitoring of our below-ground network.

Key engineering milestones included:

• Commissioning the £51.8 million Butler WTW, introducing 20 million liters of water a day to Kent.
• Completing the 12km Bewl to Cottage Hill pipeline.
• Advancing plans for the Broad Oak Water reservoir through extensive ground investigations and public engagement.

Health and safety remains paramount. Despite workforce growth, our Lost Time Injury (LTI) rate fell to 0.34, underlining our strong safety culture and approach to risk management. We also achieved Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation and met the DWI's Enhanced Cyber Assessment Framework to secure our critical IT infrastructure against rising cyber threats.