Giving you a greater say in your water company
WaterShare+ is a unique scheme that rewards our customers when we outperform and gives you a greater say in how we operate.
As part of the scheme, we offer our customers shares in our parent company, Pennon Group Plc, or money off your water bill.
So far, we have issued shares in 2020 and 2022, with 1 in 14 customers now shareholders in our business. We are incredibly proud that we now have a greater number of customer shareholders than any other shareholder group.
As well as this, the independent WaterShare+ Panel perform a vital role– they directly represent customers, meeting with us to challenge on performance, champion customer concerns, and provide assurance on our performance reporting. The Panel are designated as our Independent Challenge Group by our economic regulator, Ofwat.
Everyone's invited
Our WaterShare+ Customer Meetings are a great opportunity for you to learn more about what's happening across all three companies - us, Bournemouth Water and Bristol Water.
Share your ideas, comment on our plans and hear from our executive team about how your feedback is constantly improving our services to you. We love to hear from you, learn from you and, most importantly, work with you.
1 in 14 customers are shareholders
Through this scheme, we give our customers a chance to become shareholders in our parent company Pennon - giving you a financial stake in your water company. If you don't take the shares, you get the money off your bill. In 2023, this was to the value of £13.
We've now got more customer-shareholders than investor-shareholders!
When we next run the scheme, there'll be more information about how you can get involved. Watch this space.
You Said, We Did!
Our next meeting
Our Customer Panels, and executives across the businesses invite you to join them on Friday, 20th September.
Details of our next meeting:
- Date: September 20th
- Time: 10:00-13:30
- Location: Mayflower Water Treatment Works, Little Down Lane, Roborough, Plymouth PL6 7BD
- What to expect:
Come along for a tour of our cutting-edge drinking water treatment works outside Plymouth, learn more about the WaterShare+ Panel, and put your questions directly to the company’s leaders in a ‘Q&A’ session.
Spaces are limited so register now! - Topic: Customer Annual General Meeting
Meet your representatives
Our WaterShare+ Customer Panel do a fantastic job of taking all your feedback from meetings, surveys and workshops, and keeping the business accountable for promises they've made to you in response.
They represent South West Water and Bournemouth Water customers and have made a huge difference to the way customer voices are listened to when the companies make big business decisions.
Bristol Water, the newest member of the WaterShare+ scheme, has its own customer Challenge Panel, and you'll meet them too if you come along to one of our meetings.
Read the Terms of Reference for the WaterShare+ Panel.
Lord Matthew Taylor
Chair
Following a decade of working in the water sector as a Non-Executive Director at South West Water, Matthew continues to champion customer interests by holding the company to account as the independent WaterShare+ Chair.
Nick Buckland OBE
Deputy Chair
Nick continues to champion the needs of customers having successively chaired the previous independent WaterShare and WaterFuture Panels, overseeing and challenging delivery and development of South West Water’s business plans.
Peaches Golding OBE
Peaches Golding OBE is the independent deputy chair of the Watershare+ Panel and independent chair of the Bristol Water Customer Challenge Panel. She is His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for Bristol, Vice President of the Royal Society of St George.
Anthony Denham
Anthony became a champion for water customers in the Southwest when he joined WaterVoice. Since 2015 he's been Deputy Chair of the independent Bristol Water Challenge Panel where he leads the challenge to the water company on behalf of customers.
Richard Lacey
Richard chairs the Bournemouth Water Customer View Group ensuring that the company delivers its promises, he was instrumental in ensuring services to Bournemouth Water customers were not impacted when South West Water acquired the company in 2016.
Carole Theobald
Carole's the Chief Executive at SightCornwall, a leading sight loss charity supporting more than 4,000 people each year and Non-Executive Member of the NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care System for citizen engagement and equalities.
Ben Harper
Ben is CEO at Watergate Bay Hotel, Beach Retreats and Another Place, where he has seen the domestic leisure market rejuvenated, creating the opportunity for strong, high-quality brands.
Dinah Cox OBE
Dinah Cox OBE is a Non-Executive Director of the Devon Partnership NHS Trust and a Non-Executive Director for Devon and Cornwall Police. She also chairs Devon Community Foundation.
Our customer workshops
Get involved and make a real difference in how our business is run by being part of our extensive customer research programme.
Your Water, your Say
The regulator Ofwat and CCW asked all water companies to hold a session called Your Water, Your Say to share our plans, including the challenges we're facing and the different ways we're working to deliver more for customers and the environment.
