At South East Water, innovation is about doing things differently to deliver a positive change with the aim of improving performance, driving efficiency and promoting new ways of working.
Our vision is to embrace innovation as a fundamental part of our business by working in collaboration with our staff, customers, supply chains and stakeholders to deliver more sustainable and resilient outcomes for our customers, society, and the environment.
#1 Customer Satisfaction
Delivering outcomes for customers and supporting them by creating better value for money.
#2 Helping Vulnerable Customers
Being an inclusive provider by making our services accessible and affordable for all.
#3 Leakage & Demand Management
Maximising efficiency and minimising interruptions – influencing customer behaviour on water demand.
#4 Catchment Management & Biodiversity Improvements
Improving water quality, protecting biodiversity, environment and its species and making catchment infrastructure more resilient.
#5 Responsible Business Approach
Contributing to the net zero carbon journey and driving business efficiency and cost reduction – building and upholding reputation as a leading company across the water industry.
Our projects
Innovation means change, and we’re constantly working to better the way we do things. There are a variety of different projects being developed across the company, from something as simple as improving the way we recycle at our head office, to revolutionising the way we find and fix leaks. Below are just a few of the exciting projects that are currently taking place across the business.
CatchmentLIFE
CatchmentLIFE, is a bespoke software package which aims to make scientific recording of habitats and wildlife easy for everyone to take part in, including volunteers.
The computer programme will allow communities to get involved in reporting on the wildlife in their area which will support scientific experts by providing much more data and information about the water habitats than can be collected alone.
The design was submitted to Ofwat’s Innovation Fund - where £2 million was available for ideas that tackle shared problems faced by the water sector – and was voted as one of just 11 winners from a packed field.
CatchmentLIFE has been developed by South East Water with partners Bristol Water plc, Earthwatch Europe, Environment Agency, Loughborough University, Natural Resources Wales, SES Water, The River Restoration Centre (RRC), University of Huddersfield, and Wessex Water Services Ltd. It will receive £197,000 in total to take the project forward.
Pikavoid
As a water company, it is crucial we know who our customers are and if we have a vacant property. Pikavoid uses a GIS map, where all void properties are marked with a purple dot, employees will go and look for dots within their hometown or surrounding areas. Once they find a property, they click onto the dot and answer five simple questions, click finish and submit. Once they submit the answers, the dot turns green and the information to determine whether there is an occupier is sent to the void field team. The surveys results are then reviewed by our voids team, who will carryout further investigations on any void properties that have been confirimed as occupied via the app.
‘Gotta catch ‘Em All’ is the moto of the app and the principle adopted is similar to the well known mobile game Pokemon Go.
The app has recently been nominated for a UK Customer Satisfaction Award.
Smart networks
An industry first, smart networks is not just smart metering. It’s a journey to visualise, analyse, monitor, predict and improve the real-time performance of our water network. Working with Vodafone UK we are the first utility in England to have a full NBIoT (Narrowband Internet of Things) commercial agreement in place. The partnership will enable us to transmit data for analysis from digital water meters at 2,000 homes in a Kent trial area, as well as information from other network sensors.
If successful, smart networks has the potential to alert us to the smallest leaks on both our and our customers’ pipes soon after they occur, and could even enable us to predict and prevent pipeline failure before it happens.
The trial won three Water Industry Achievement Awards for Data Project of the Year, Most Innovative Project of the Year and Water Innovation Project of the Year 2020.
Innovate with us
From reducing bursts and interruptions to customer supplies, improving the service we provide and encouraging everyone to save water – there are a number of areas we are working to drive change in. If you have an innovative product or service that could help us achieve our goals, we would be delighted to hear from you. Just click the button below to fill in your details and we’ll get back to you.