Father and son filling up water bottle from tap

Engaging with customers early on in our business planning process for 2025–30 has allowed us to understand their priorities and determine the focus for AMP8 to make sure our investment and actions reflects those priorities.

Our research included over 3,000 customers from a wide range of our key customer groups, including household, business, vulnerable, low income, future and digitally-excluded customers. It provided an early view of the minimum service expectations of customers, as well as the growing priorities for environmental improvement, and affordability. It showed that ‘safe water to drink’ was the most important priority for all customers.

Using a range of our own research projects as well as industry and regulator research and independent consultancy, we have continued to track customer priorities over time to see how they have evolved. These findings have allowed us to prioritise investment in areas which matter most to customers, focusing on schemes which improve resilience, environmental benefits and affordability.

Learnings from engagement have allowed us to prioritise investment in areas which matter most to customers, focusing on schemes that improve resilience, environmental benefits and affordability.

We carried out innovative ‘immersive’ research to inform the development of our options hierarchy for our Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan and our Water Resources Management Plan. A three-week ‘pop-up’ community, made up of customers, business users and future bill payers, gave us incredible detail into how customers view the future of water and wastewater management in the North West. The research showed customers’ appetite for more education into using water responsibly, innovation and smarter ways of working before the more traditional grey measures.

All of these learnings are helping to shape our plans as we prepare for AMP8 and beyond.