We are proud to provide a sustainable, affordable, clean and safe water supply and to manage and treat the waste water returned to us in a way that protects the environment.
08/04/2010
The new chief executive of Northumbrian Water yesterday vowed to deliver an improved service to customers as she set out her vision for the business.
Heidi Mottram, who has joined from Northern Rail where she was managing director, took up the position vacated by long-serving John Cuthbert last week.
Speaking for the first time yesterday about the challenges ahead, she said she was coming in to a business that was already among the best performing in the sector.
But Mrs Mottram, 45, who is the first woman to take charge of one of Britain’s major water and waste treatment companies, challenged the Durham-based utility’s 3,000 staff to raise the bar even higher.
“People feel at the moment that they get a good service. What we are all striving to do now is take that customer service from something that is really good to something that really pleases people,” she said.
“It is about trying to think about what is the absolute best possible service you could give a customer, not just the basics. That’s where I think we need to be innovative and think about doing things differently.”
Mrs Mottram earned praise from rail passenger groups for her success at Northern Rail where reliability rates improved from 83% to 95% under her leadership.
She has spent her entire career to date within the rail industry since becoming an operations management trainee at British Rail, starting out as a station manager at Harrogate, before going on to work for companies including Arriva, Midland Mainline and GNER.
Yesterday, Mrs Mottram said she was excited to take some of the skills she had learned into a new industry.
She also revealed that the firm, which provides water for 2.6 million people in this region and 1.7 million in the South East where it trades as Essex & Suffolk Water, would be looking to make “efficiency savings.”
But she insisted there were no specific plans on the table.
“When I talk about efficiencies, I haven’t got any particular agenda in mind other than we know that we need to do things better,” she said.
“I need to rely on and work with the expertise of the people in this business to identify what we can do and where we can make improvements.”
Northumbrian Water recently became the first company in the industry to reach an agreement with the regulator Ofwat on its new five-year price regime.
She described the agreement as “fair” but “challenging” in terms of the programme of investment it requires and the demands for improved levels of customer service.
“We’ve got a plan and we now need to roll our sleeves up and deliver it,” she said.
Mrs Mottram also revealed she had spoken to key major shareholders in the business following recent speculation – subsequently denied – that the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, which owns 27% of the business, could mount a takeover bid. A representative from the Canadian pension plan sits on the Northumbrian board.
“I have met with some of our significant shareholders and I think they are pleased to be in this kind of business,” she said.
“They understand it and it’s my job to find added value, better and more efficient ways of working that can move (the business) in the right direction for them.”
A profile of Heidi Mottram will appear in the Journal on Monday.
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