Giving you a greater say in your water company
WaterShare+ is a unique scheme that rewards our customers when we outperform and gives you a greater say in how we operate.
As part of the scheme, we offer our customers shares in our parent company, Pennon Group Plc, or money off your water bill.
So far, we have issued shares in 2020 and 2022, with 1 in 14 customers now shareholders in our business. We are incredibly proud that we now have a greater number of customer shareholders than any other shareholder group.
As well as this, the independent WaterShare+ Panel perform a vital role– they directly represent customers, meeting with us to challenge on performance, champion customer concerns, and provide assurance on our performance reporting. The Panel are designated as our Independent Challenge Group by our economic regulator, Ofwat.
Everyone is invited – come along to The Panel’s public meetings!
The Panel’s public meetings are a great opportunity for you to engage and put your questions directly to our senior leadership.
Where these meetings occur in-person, we bring along staff from specialist teams so that you can learn more about your water. Don’t worry if you can’t make it in person though – many of the Panel’s public meetings are online.
1 in 14 customers are shareholders
Through this scheme, we give our customers a chance to become shareholders in our parent company Pennon - giving you a financial stake in your water company. If you don't take the shares, you get the money off your bill. In 2023, this was to the value of £13.
We've now got more customer-shareholders than investor-shareholders!
When we next run the scheme, there'll be more information about how you can get involved. Watch this space.
You Said, We Did!
Upcoming dates
We love to hear from you, learn from you and, most importantly, work with you.
- 26th November, 2024 – Cornwall
- 2nd December, 2024 - Online
- 30th January, 2025 – Devon
- 25th February, 2025 - Online
- 2nd June, 2025 – Online
- 9th September, 2025 – In-person (location tbc)
- 26th November, 2025 – Online
- 29th January, 2026 – Devon
- 11th February, 2026 – Online
Meet the WaterShare+ panel
Chaired by Lord Matthew Taylor, The Panel is formed of eight members who act as advocates for local customers and other stakeholders. The panel members represent all of our supply areas, including Devon, Cornwall, Bristol, and Bournemouth.
Lord Matthew Taylor
Chair
Formerly an MP in Cornwall for 23 years, Matthew has a passion for sustainable planning and housing policy, and he continues to advise government and businesses on a significant number of new sustainable developments. Following a decade of working in the water sector with a focus on improving customer outcomes, Matthew continues to champion customers by holding the company to account as chair of the WaterShare+ Panel.
Peaches Golding OBE
Deputy Chair
Peaches is His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for Bristol; Vice President of the Royal Society of St George; Non-Executive Consultant of Moon Consulting Ltd, and a Trustee of the SS Great Britain and the Bristol Zoological Society. She has also been awarded an OBE for services to minority ethnic people in the South West and the CStJ for services to faith and humanity. Peaches has an honorary MBA from the University of the West of England (UWE), a Doctorate of the University from UWE and a Doctorate of Letters from the University of Bristol. She is an Honorary Captain of the Royal Naval Reserves and President of the affiliation between Bristol and HMS Prince of Wales.
Anthony Denham
After retiring from a career in the electrical power industry, Anthony became a champion for water customers in the Southwest when he joined WaterVoice (latterly the Customer Council for Water). Since 2015 Anthony has been the deputy chair of the independent Bristol Water Challenge Panel where he helps to lead the challenge to the water company on behalf of customers.
Ben Harper
Ben is the Chief Executive of the award-winning Watergate Bay group of hospitality companies. His previous roles include spending six years helping the serviced apartment company SACO (now EDYN Group) to double inventory, revenues and profitability and transitioning the business through a private equity cycle.
Dinah Cox
Dinah is Chair of the grant-making trust the Devon Community Foundation; a Non-Executive Director for Inclusion and Race Equality for Devon and Cornwall Police and a Non-Executive Director of the Devon Partnership NHS Trust. She is also a Regional Advisory Group Member for the National Trust. The former Chief Executive of Race on the Agenda (ROTA), Dinah was awarded an OBE in 2008 for services to Community Relations in London.
Carole Theobald
Carole has worked in the public and charitable sectors in Cornwall for more than 20 years. Carole is the chief executive at iSightCornwall, a leading sight loss charity supporting more than 4,000 people each year and Non-Executive Member of the NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB) for quality, citizen engagement and equalities. Carole is a versatile senior leader with a wealth of experience in customer advocacy.
Nick Buckland OBE
Nick continues to champion the needs of customers having chaired South West Water’s independent WaterShare and WaterFuture Panels. Nick is the Chair of the social mobility charity Future First and a Chair, Non-Executive Director and Trustee of other organisations. In recognition of his outstanding services to innovation and technology, Nick was appointed OBE in 2009. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Technology by Plymouth University in 2013.
Richard Lacey
Richard previously chaired the Bournemouth Water Customer View Group ensuring that the company delivered against its promises and was instrumental in ensuring services to Bournemouth Water customers were not impacted when South West Water acquired the company in 2016. Richard continues to ensure that Bournemouth Water’s customer needs are considered on the WaterShare+ Panel. Richard is a Chartered Civil Engineer with a lifetime’s experience in the Water Industry.
Would you like to be involved in our future customer research?
Get involved and make a real difference in how our business is run by being part of our extensive customer research programme.
Your Water, your Say
The regulator Ofwat and CCW asked all water companies to hold a session called Your Water, Your Say to share our plans, including the challenges we're facing and the different ways we're working to deliver more for customers and the environment.
Please remember information on this web page in relation to the share alternative under the WaterShare+ scheme is information only and not recommendation or advice. You might wish to consult an authorised financial advisor.