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Our purpose
Our vision
Our strategic themes
Our core values and culture
Why we exist
To provide great water...
Providing great water means delivering our core water, wastewater and customer services, reliably and to the highest quality. It is what our customers expect and deserve.
...and more
Providing ‘more’ means creating value for our stakeholders by understanding what matters to them through strong and constructive relationships. We do this by:
...for the North West
We are singularly focused on the North West.
WHAT WE WANT TO ACHIEVE
To be the best UK water and wastewater company
This is what motivates us to improve our services and deliver more. To achieve this vision, our strategy has three themes – the best service to customers, at the lowest sustainable cost, in a responsible manner.
HOW WE deliver our purpose and vision
The best service to customers
We put customers at the heart of everything we do. As well as delivering a reliable service of great tasting water and removing wastewater, we proactively keep customers informed about any work we are doing in their area and communicate with them in ways that meet their individual needs. For example, we now use ‘push texts’ to send updates and alerts to customers within a specified location.
The best service to customers means being available when they need to contact us, always interacting in a friendly and helpful manner, and offering tailored support and assistance for customers when they need it. As well as these day-to-day interactions, it means consulting on what matters to them. This shapes what we do; for example, we redesigned our bills based on customer research and feedback.
At the lowest sustainable cost
To run a resilient business, it is important to ensure cost reductions are sustainable so that we can keep them down without compromising on resilience or the quality of service we deliver.
When we develop our plans and assess different options, we look to minimise the whole-life cost. This fits with the total expenditure (totex) model, because the most cost-effective option can vary between traditional operating expenditure (opex) or capital expenditure (capex) solutions.
Our Systems Thinking approach helps us look holistically at all options, and operating our entire network as a system rather than discrete assets opens up new avenues that otherwise would not have been available.
In a responsible manner
We will only deliver our purpose and create and maintain value for our stakeholders if we act in a responsible manner.
This means protecting and enhancing the natural environment, using natural solutions where possible, and reducing our carbon footprint and waste. It means promoting a safe, healthy and engaging workplace for our employees, supporting their physical and mental health. It drives us to support local communities on issues that matter to them, and to work with local schools and training facilities to promote skills for the future
Above all, it means we are open, honest and transparent in our dealings and in reporting our performance.
Fundamental values that drive decision-making
Customer focused
Customers are at the heart of everything we do, and we aim to provide a great and resilient service at the most efficient cost.
Innovative
We continually look for new ways to make our services better, safer, faster and cheaper.
Trustworthy
We make promises knowingly and keep them, behaving with integrity towards all of our stakeholders.
Culture at United Utilities
As well as our purpose, strategy and core values, we monitor our culture against key categories relating to our people, such as engagement, health and wellbeing, diversity, and development.
