Affordability
Our Affordability strategy research has helped us understand the experience and views of customers who are struggling to afford household bills or just about managing. It has also helped to shape the affordability support we offer, and the ways in which we promote it.
What we wanted to know
We wanted to understand customers’ financial struggles, and to what extent our current affordability schemes are helping with people’s finances. We also wanted to hear (and develop with customers) their ideas for improving our schemes and ideas for new ones. We also wanted to gather their views on how we could promote our affordability support more effectively.
How we did it
The project comprised focus groups, workshops, depth interviews and surveys with over 1,000 customers who were struggling to afford their household bills. Some were in severe debt, some were in vulnerable circumstances and some were struggling financially for the first time. Some were already on our affordability schemes such as the Big Difference Scheme, WaterSure, payment plan and Payment Matching; some were eligible for our schemes - others were not.
We carried out the research between December 2022 and August 2023.
What customers told us
A summary of what our customers told us in our Affordability strategy research
Read our latest reports
This research was carried out to understand all issues around affordability, water debt, and our affordability schemes - and explore ways in which we could better meet customers’ needs in this area.