Energy policy

The executive leadership team at Southern Water have established this policy, which applies to all employees, contractors and suppliers working on our behalf.

Our purpose is to provide water for life: working together to provide sustainable water and protect the environment today and for future generations. This important mission necessitates having reliable and resilient access to energy to move water and sewage around our region and efficiently power our treatment processes. We recognise that we are a nationally significant consumer of energy and have an important contribution to make towards reducing the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, whilst delivering value to our customers. 

The objective of this policy is to set out our principles in relation to the management and use of energy. By adopting behaviours and engaging in activities that align to our principles we create value within and beyond the organisation – in the form of cost reduction, business resilience and better customer and environmental outcomes – and create a culture of effective and responsible energy practice.

This policy seeks to establish a robust platform upon which to develop strategies and initiatives that support our energy objectives and embed them in the way we work. The policy complements and should be read alongside our carbon and environment policies.  

We care about responsible energy practices and nurture a positive energy management culture throughout the organisation. We integrate policy objectives into our processes and procedures to embed a deliberate energy focus within business decisions, and we work effectively with our colleagues, supply chain partners, stakeholders, and customers to achieve mutually and environmentally beneficial outcomes.

We support the necessary transition to low and no-carbon technologies and fuel sources and create opportunities for employees and customers to share in the benefits associated with transitioning to a greener economy.

We operate our sites to high standards of safety, security, compliance and performance in accordance with all applicable legislation and Codes of Practice related to energy efficiency, use and consumption. 

We strive towards self-sufficiency through championing the use of  renewable energy technologies. We act to maximise the value of biogas produced from the treatment of wastewater and adopt “best fit” renewable energy solutions that leverage the inherent value of our property, estate, and technology assets. We actively seek to integrate renewable energy technologies into new and existing installations, and we ensure that our capital projects either enhance or maintain our renewable energy capabilities.

We use energy responsibly and act to reduce our whole life energy  consumption, costs and carbon emissions. Within the business we collect, share and utilise accurate energy performance data and prioritise our optimisation activities on our largest and most energy intensive assets and processes. We benchmark the energy performance of our assets so we know what good looks like, set performance targets, and act decisively when performance changes. We take a data-led approach to managing our assets and an employee-led approach to energy efficiency; this ensures that our operations remain efficient and that our evidence-based interventions are purposeful, accurate and sustainable. We dedicate appropriate resources to building, operating and continually improving our energy management systems and capabilities. 

We deliver value through commercial expertise. By utilising market insight, we deliver security, value and cost assurance through our  energy purchasing activities, striking the right balance between risk and cost certainty. We optimise our costs by being flexible about when and how we consume energy and take advantage of opportunities to benefit from tariff avoidance, power purchase agreements, and flexibility services. We consciously evaluate energy outcomes to help us select between options when procuring products, equipment and services.

This policy is reviewed regularly. Progress against policy and strategy objectives are routinely presented to senior business governance forums.