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The Customer Forum: Customer engagement in the Scottish water sector

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  • Littlechild, Stephen

Abstract

The Customer Forum was set up in 2011 to carry out customer research, represent the interests of customers to Scottish Water and the economic regulator WICS, and to seek to agree a business plan with the company. It was set up with the agreement of all parties. The aims were to improve on previous price control approach, to find a new way of challenging the company and to bring greater customer input to bear. The constitution, expectations and timetable of the Forum were specified in some detail. WICS also provided many Guidance Notes about its own expectations. Financial tramlines were established to monitor performance during the forthcoming price control period. The process worked well, all parties worked constructively and agreement was reached on a business plan upon which the regulator subsequently proposed a price control. There is scope to apply the process in future and in other sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Littlechild, Stephen, 2014. "The Customer Forum: Customer engagement in the Scottish water sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 206-218.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juipol:v:31:y:2014:i:c:p:206-218
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2014.10.002
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Crase, Lin & Khosroshahi, Saeideh & Cooper, Bethany, 2020. "Hydrology, topography and demography matter: Why care needs to be exercised when assessing water prices and regulation and the extent to which they conform with best practice," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Eskesen, Anita, 2021. "A contract design perspective on balancing the goals of utility regulation," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Ménard, Claude, 2017. "Meso-institutions: The variety of regulatory arrangements in the water sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 6-19.
    4. Littlechild, Stephen, 2018. "Regulation and the nature of competition," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 211-223.
    5. Saeideh Khosroshahi & Lin Crase & Bethany Cooper & Michael Burton, 2021. "Matching customers’ preferences for tariff reform with managers’ appetite for change: The case of volumetric‐only tariffs in Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 65(2), pages 449-471, April.
    6. Daniel Duma & Michael G. Pollitt & Andrei Covatariu, 2024. "Regulatory Learning in the Face of Net Zero Climate Policy: The Case of the UK," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 65(2), pages 505-530, September.
    7. Stephen Littlechild, 2024. "Incentive Regulation From the Inside: Resetting 12 RPI-X Price Caps in 1993–1995," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 65(2), pages 375-430, September.
    8. Biggar, Darryl, 2022. "Seven outstanding issues in energy network regulation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    9. Mountain, Bruce, 2014. "Independent regulation of government-owned monopolies: An oxymoron? The case of electricity distribution in Australia," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 188-196.
    10. Littlechild, Stephen, 2018. "Economic regulation of privatised airports: Some lessons from UK experience," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 114(PA), pages 100-114.
    11. Heims, Eva M. & Lodge, Martin, 2018. "Customer engagement in UK water regulation: towards a collaborative regulatory state?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87258, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Belton, Cameron A. & Robertson, Deirdre A. & Lunn, Peter D., 2022. "An experimental approach to measuring consumer preferences for water charges," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

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    Keywords

    Regulation; Customer engagement;

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