Please read below a letter from Thames Water sent to Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Leader at Oxfordshire County Council.
31 March 2020
Dear Council Leader,
I wrote to you last week to explain Thames Water’s response to COVID-19. This note is to provide an update on what we are doing to maintain safe, reliable water and wastewater services, while continuing to look after our staff and the wider community.
The key points I want to make you aware of are:
- To keep our staff safe and minimise transmission risk we have put in place strict social distancing measures. Staff are working from home wherever possible and we are supporting them to do so.
- Our staff have been designated as ‘key workers’ to ensure we can continue to deliver our services as normally as possible during the current restrictions on movement. It is still absolutely necessary for some of our workers to be on-site to carry out essential activities, such as unblocking sewers and repairing burst water mains.
- Some of our customers have been concerned to see our staff at work, and we have launched a social media and radio campaign to explain that this is happening only to ensure our customers continue to receive their normal services, and make clear that they are following government advice.
- We know that many of our customers are facing financial difficulties, and have increased the support available for customers who may be struggling to pay their bill, with the introduction of a flexible payment period.
- This new support is in addition to existing measures, which include our:
- Social tariff, which offers low-income households a discount of 50% on their bills
- Customer Assistance Fund, which offers grants to those with outstanding bills
- Trust Fund, which offers debt advice and grants for household appliances and other essentials.
More information on the help we offer, and information on how to apply, is available at https://www.thameswater.co.uk/my-account/billing-and-payment/help-paying-your-bill.
Finally, I am aware that a letter has recently been sent to the Prime Minister by some MPs asking for a ban on water company disconnections during the current period. Water companies do not have the powers to disconnect domestic customers from their water supply. We do not want such a power and would not use one if it existed.
I hope you find this helpful. If you do have any questions about our response, please do get in touch.
Yours sincerely
George Mayhew
Corporate Affairs Director