Our Annual Performance Report
Here you can view or download our latest Annual Performance Report. It includes both our financial and non-financial performance.
Report overview
This report sets out the performance in 2022–23 of Southern Water’s regulated business, as defined under our Licence (the licence to operate as a water and sewerage undertaker). This is both in financial terms and against our outcome and performance commitments.
We have 47 performance commitments, agreed as part of the price review process, that we report on annually. Overall, our performance has fallen short of the very challenging performance targets that Ofwat set within its Final Determination (the basis on which our plan for 2020–25 was approved). While we're disappointed to have missed some of our targets, we're determined to get better and are taking steps to improve our performance.
Statistics from the annual performance report
Despite setbacks in some areas, we've also seen small improvements in performance across a large number of areas over the past year.
Statistics from the annual performance report
Despite setbacks in some areas, we've also seen small improvements in performance across a large number of areas over the past year.
19%
We've reduced internal sewer flooding by 19% over the year.
6
The number of water and wastewater works not meeting their discharge permit requirements was reduced from seven to six.
4%
Over the year, we reduced pollution incidents by 4%.
6.4%
Unplanned water outages fell from 7.2% to 6.4% over the year.
Lawrence Gosden, Chief Executive Officer.
"Our Turnaround Plan will deliver a short sharp ambitious improvement by 2025, particularly in terms of our environmental performance. It includes four clear outcomes that we’re promising to deliver, improving our service to customers and the environment."
Keith Lough, Chair
"Our vision is to create a resilient water future for our customers in the South East. We now want to share what this means and what we’re planning to achieve."
Key takeaways
In 2022–23 we met or exceeded 15 of our 47 performance commitments compared to 18 in 2021–22. However, we did see improved performance in some areas. Over the year we outperformed on external sewer flooding, unplanned outages, and priority services measures.
We know that despite the improvements, our performance and the rate of improvement are not fast enough. This is why, in April 2023 we published our Turnaround Plan for the last two years of this regulatory period 2023–25. This plan is based on a detailed analysis of the root cause of our performance challenges and sets out four clear outcomes that we are promising to deliver. Each has a set of associated performance measures. Publication of the plan underlines our commitment to doing better for our customers and the environment. It also means that stakeholders and customers can hold us to account for delivery against our promises.