The Water Bidding Market and our performance commitments
Designed to cover the areas that matter most to our customers and stakeholders, our 5 big goals are supported by 43 performance commitments.
Our performance commitments consist of specific service measures and targets which track the delivery of our big goals. We report on our performance against these commitments, which provides an effective reputational incentive to achieve our agreed targets. For some performance commitments, however, added financial incentives are included via ‘outcome delivery incentives’. Under these financial incentives, where we have outperformed our targets we may secure rewards, while underperformance may incur penalties.
Some of our performance commitments are common, meaning they are set by Ofwat and common to the water sector, while others are bespoke, meaning the measures are unique to Yorkshire Water, having been developed in consultation with our customers and stakeholders.
We anticipate that any solution to help us meet our future water resource needs will directly influence our ability to achieve some of our performance commitments. We have identified the performance commitments most likely to be affected and provide brief descriptions and targets below. It is important to note that these targets have been determined by Ofwat through the PR19 process but are subject to change pending the outcome of Yorkshire Water’s request for Ofwat to refer its final determination to the Competition and Markets Authority.
We encourage potential bidders to consider how their solutions would interact with these performance commitments so that any proposals support and do not inhibit our ability to meet our performance commitments.
Water quality compliance (CRI)
Performance commitment type: common
This performance commitment is designed to illustrate the risk arising from treated water compliance failures. The CRI score is calculated based on the number and severity of our compliance failures within the calendar year, as defined by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI).
| Company forecast | Final Determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level | Number | 3.51 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Leakage
Performance commitment type: common
This performance commitment relates to the amount of water lost from our water network between our water treatment works and customers’ homes and businesses. The commitment measures the percentage reduction of leakage from a 2019-20 baseline, using a three-year average. Leakage includes water lost from trunk mains, service reservoirs, distribution mains, communication pipes and customers’ supply pipes. It includes real (leakage from the assets) and apparent losses, such as meter inaccuracies or water taken but not accounted for.
| Company forecast | Final determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level – 3 year average figure | ML/d | 287.5 | 277.7 | 266.2 | 260.5 | 253.9 | 244.4 |
| Performance commitment level – percentage reduction | % | 3.4 | 7.4 | 9.4 | 11.7 | 15 | |
Per capita consumption
Performance commitment type: common
This performance commitment relates to the amount of water our customers use. Per capita consumption is the annual average water use of people living in household properties. The commitment measures the percentage reduction in per capita consumption from a 2019-20 baseline, using a three-year average.
| Company forecast | Final determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level – 3 year average figure | l/p/d | 131.2 | 128.1 | 124.8 | 121.5 | 120.3 | 119.5 |
| Performance commitment level – percentage reduction | % | 2.4 | 4.9 | 7.4 | 8.3 | 8.9 | |
C-MeX: Customer measure of experience
Performance commitment type: common
This performance commitment relates to customer satisfaction and the overall experience our customers receive. The commitment measures customer satisfaction scores from customer service and customer experience surveys.
Our target C-MeX is a new industry-wide comparative measure for 2020-25, so no formal targets currently exist. Our PR19 business plan seeks to deliver excellent service, however, so we are pursuing strong performance against this measure.
Water supply interruptions
Performance commitment type: common
This performance commitment relates to the amount of time our customers go without a continuous supply of water. The commitment measures the average number of minutes lost per customer for water supply interruptions lasting three hours or more. Interruptions include planned, unplanned and those caused by a third party.
| Company forecast | Final Determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level | HH:M M:SS | 00:04:00 | 00:06:30 | 00:06:08 | 00:05:45 | 00:05:23 | 00:05:00 |
Significant water supply events
Performance commitment type: bespoke
This performance commitment relates to long lasting water supply interruptions. The commitment measures the number of events where one or more properties has an interruption to supply lasting 12 hours or longer. Interruptions include planned, unplanned and those caused by a third party.
| Company forecast | Final Determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level | Number | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
Drinking water contacts
Performance commitment type: common
This performance commitment relates to the quality of the water we supply to our customers. The commitment measures the number of customer contacts we receive relating to the colour, taste or smell of the water we supply, per 10,000 population served.
| Company forecast | Final Determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level | Number | 12.2 | 11.4 | 10.6 | 9.7 | 8.9 | 8.1 |
Unplanned outage
Performance commitment type: common
This performance commitment relates to the ability of our water production assets to process the volume of water they are designed to produce, which can be affected by changes in raw water quality. The measure is used as a means of assessing asset health for water abstraction and treatment activity.
| Company forecast | Final Determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level | % | -* | 5.12 | 4.42 | 3.73 | 3.03 | 2.34 |
*Unplanned outage is a new measure for the 2020-25 period. Our performance forecasting for this measure has been improving throughout the shadow reporting period but is not sufficiently mature to provide an accurate 2019-20 forecast. We will provide our actual 2019-20 performance figure once we publish our 2019-20 Annual Performance Report in July 2020.
Mains repairs
Performance commitment type: common
This performance commitment relates to the condition of our water mains. The commitment measures the number of mains bursts we are required to repair due to damage or deterioration per 1,000km of mains we own. Mains bursts include all physical repair work to mains from which water is lost. The measure is used to incentivise mains network asset maintenance and improvement.
| Company forecast | Final Determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level | Number | 264.8 | 186.1 | 183.6 | 181.0 | 178.4 | 175.8 |
Low pressure
Performance commitment type: bespoke
This performance commitment relates to the water pressure supplied to our customers’ homes and businesses. The commitment measures the number of properties where the water pressure in the communication pipe is below the minimum standard.
| Company forecast | Final Determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level | Number | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
Repairing or replacing customer owned pipes
Performance commitment type: bespoke
This performance commitment relates to the condition of customer owned pipes and their effect on the quality, pressure and flow of the water and reliability of the service provided. The commitment measures the number of residential supply pipe repairs and renewals we carry out annually.
| Company forecast | Final Determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level | Number | 6,111 | 6,882 | 7,109 | 7,386 | 7,687 | 8,013 |
Risk of severe restrictions in a drought
Performance commitment type: common
The performance commitment relates to our resilience to drought. The commitment measures the percentage of customers at risk of severe restrictions to water use, such as standpipes or rota cuts, in a 1 in 200 year drought, on average, over 25 years. In Yorkshire, we plan for resilience to 1 in 500 year droughts.
| Company forecast | Final Determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level | % | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Operational Carbon
Performance commitment type: bespoke
The performance commitment relates to our greenhouse gas emissions. The commitment measures the percentage reduction of carbon emissions relating to our operational activities from a 2019-20 baseline.
| Company forecast | Final Determination committed performance level | ||||||
| Unit | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
| Performance commitment level | % | 223 (tCO2e) | 2.4 | 4.8 | 7.2 | 9.6 | 12 |
Further details for all our performance commitments can be found on Ofwat’s website. We encourage potential bidders to consider how their solutions would interact with all our performance commitments.
High quality bids will demonstrate how proposed solutions will support delivery against performance commitments and set out any measures to mitigate risks. We will not implement any solution that places undue risk on our ability to meet our performance commitment targets.