On 7 March 2022 Bristol Water joined the Pennon Group comprising of South West Water, Bournemouth Water and Pennon Water Services serving 3.1 million customers across the Greater South West.
While Bristol Water, a water only company, will retain its local brand and community identity with teams continuing to support the 1.2 million customers the organisation provides drinking water services to, South West Water has now applied to the economic regulator, Ofwat, for Bristol Water’s regulatory licence to be merged with its own. The process for this is prescribed by the Water Industry Act 1991, and South West Water is now required to publish the notice.
As a result of the acquisition by Pennon Bristol Water customers can look forward to lower bills with the removal of the small company premium and benefit from Pennon’s pioneering WaterShare+ scheme, giving customers a stake and say in how the company operates. This is unique in the industry. 1 in 16 households in the South West currently are shareholders and the scheme will be extended to Bristol Water’s customers in the coming months.
The acquisition of Bristol Water grows the Group’s workforce to around 2,900 and the organisation is committed to making Pennon the best place to work in the region. In 2022, it was once again accredited as a Best Place to Work and the company continues to support its people gaining new skills through talent development programmes, apprenticeship and graduate schemes.
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Notes to editors:
Pennon is a UK-focused water infrastructure group, comprising South West Water (incorporating Bournemouth Water), Bristol Water, and Pennon Water Services.
Bristol Water is a regulated water only company supplying drinking water to a population of approximately 1.2 million people in the Bristol region.
South West Water provides water and wastewater service to a population of c.1.8 million in Cornwall, Devon and parts of Dorset and Somerset, and water only services to c.0.5 million in parts of Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire.
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