We can all benefit from a bit of extra support from time to time, whether it's due to age, ill health, disability, mental health problems, language barriers or a temporary change in your personal situation.
Our Priority Services Register could help you, your family or your friends benefit from additional support from us so we can respond quickly to any particular needs. It's completely free to register, and you don't have to be the named bill payer to be eligible.
This may be short term while you are going through some temporary life changes or longer term where you may have restricted mobility, may be deaf, blind or partially sighted. It also includes our elderly customers or those suffering a sickness or illness.
Registering is quick and easy. Simply fill in our secure online form here(opens in a new tab), or call our Customer Care Team on 0800 952 4000(opens in a new tab). We're here to help Monday to Friday between 8am - 7pm.
Watch our short video below to hear about how Priority Services work and what we're doing with other utility companies to promote them.
Who is eligible?
Age
Are you or someone you live with of pensionable age, or do you have children under the age of 5?
Communication
Do you have communication needs relating to your sight, hearing, speech or language barriers?
Medical conditions
Are you living with a chronic or serious illness or have a cognitive impairment, including dementia?
Medical equipment
Do you or someone you live with use medical equipment such as a dialysis machine, a ventilator, nebuliser or oxygen therapy?
Mobility
Do you or someone you live with have a disability or physical impairment, or have additional mobility needs?
Life changing events
Are you going through a significant life change such as a bereavement, recovering from a hospital stay or a change in circumstances?
Additional support available
If you are a customer on our Priority Services Register, you will:
- Receive prior warning of planned work which may interrupt your water supply
- Receive priority treatment should your water supply be interrupted (we aim to arrange an alternative source as quickly as possible, and will often hand-deliver bottled drinking water to our customers with mobility issues)
- Receive important information in a more convenient format, such as large print or where our normal presentation style is not suitable
- Register your own spoken or written password for our staff to use so that customers can identify them if we need to call at your home
- Nominate somebody else to receive your water bill on your behalf, or someone we should contact if it remains unpaid (the person you nominate must agree to this)
- Receive easy-to-read, large print bills (we can also arrange to call you and read your bill to you)
- If English isn't your first language we may be able to help you with our interpretation service when you call
- Receive information about specialist organisations which are able to provide advice on possible adaptations to water fittings and appliances around the home
What to expect once registered
A warm welcome!
Once registered, we will send you a welcome letter to confirm we have added you to our register, confirming:
- the services you have signed up to and any communication needs you have
- how we will support you during an interruption to your supply
- how we will use your data
- our contact details if you ever need to get in touch with us
- what to do if your situation changes
Checking in with you
When you are on our Priority Services Register, we will check in with you every two years to make sure we are still providing you with the best possible service.
Within each two-year period, we will try to contact you three times by email, text message or post.
This will help us to make sure your details are up to date so that we can fully support you and tailor our service to your needs.
Help for customers with additional needs
If you, or someone you know, is without water and needs extra support due to ill health or disability (for example getting to a bottled water station), please call our Customer Care team on 0333 000 2468(opens in a new tab). We're here Monday-Friday 8am to 7pm and Saturdays 8am to 1pm. For out of hours emergencies, please call 0333 000 0365(opens in a new tab).
Website Accessibility
Are you finding it difficult to use our website? We've added a tool called Recite Me to assist those with additional needs or customers whose first language isn't English.
Simple and intuitive to use, 'Recite Me' includes audio playback functionality, dyslexia software, an interactive dictionary and a translation tool with up to 90 languages. It even has the ability to change the entire colour scheme, font size and style – with a bottom-heavy font for anyone with dyslexia.
To access Recite Me, all you need to do is click on the button to the right of this page that says ‘Accessibility'. Find out more about Recite Me.
Working together to help you
We share your address and your priority need when you join our Priority Services Register (PSR) with your energy network operator, which will be either UK Power Networks (UKPN) or Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) depending on where you live.
Your energy network operator will also do the same and let us know if they have PSR customers in our South East Water geographical location.
This is so we can ensure that you can receive support from your key utility providers to meet your priority needs.
