big plans & major challenges
Southern Water
big plans & major challenges Southern Water is the sole provider of water services to the south of the island state of Tasmania. However, since it began working in 2009, it has had to rapidly modernise what had been a fragmented system. CEO Mike Paine tells Australasia Outlook about the challenges it has faced and how a new focus on the needs of the customer will be the key to its future success. BY Jane McCallion 40
SOUTHERN WATER TASMANIA
S
outhern Water was founded through state government reforms of Tasmania’s water and sewerage industry in 2008 and commenced operations on 1 July, 2009. The company provides water and sewerage services to approximately 100,000 customers across 12 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state of Tasmania and is also wholly owned by the 12 local government authorities. It employs approximately 380 revenue is A$125 million. The business came into being after the state government undertook a review of the water and sewerage industry in Tasmania and decided a restructure was required to standardise water and sewerage services for customers . Previously, there had been approximately one service provider in each of the 29 LGAs, however after rationalisation there are now three water corporations each serving a wider area. A fourth subsidiary, Onstream, provides shared services to all three regional water corporations. Southern Water is currently undertaking a number of major upgrade reliability of water and sewerage services, as CEO Mike Paine explains. “The state government review found that the service levels provided by our existing infrastructure did not meet the statutory requirements that were laid out in the new legislation. Consequently, we have about half a billion dollars of capital works to implement in order to improve service standards.” A major focus of the upgrade plan is the sewerage treatment and distribution systems. When Southern Water took over as the water services provider for the 12 southern Tasmanian councils, it was immediately faced with a huge compliance challenge. “Not one of the sewage treatment plants that we inherited complied with the license requirements,” says Paine. “So, we have undertaken a substantial systems review, which is still partially ongoing, to see if we can rationalise or reduce the number of plants.
“We are moving our strategy towards more effective customer service and all of the things that brings with it” Mike Paine Southern Water CEO
At the same time, we will be seeking to update the treatment plants that we do keep so that they are compliant with the legislation.” The project is a large undertaking in terms of both capital expenditure and timescale – the budget is A$400 million and is expected to be carried out over the next 10 years. At the other end of the company’s services is its water distribution system. “We are lucky in Tasmania in that we rarely have any real problem with drought here. However, we do have an ageing and very leaky distribution system at the moment, which causes a lot of unnecessary wastage,” explains Paine. In fact, the problems with the historical systems are bad enough that the majority of its business case savings will come from “Obviously it is not very good for the environment or for our business if we are expending energy 41
SOUTHERN WATER TASMANIA
treating the water to a high level and pumping it
organisation and our customers.” Another major project is underway to transform the way billing is carried out, by rolling out water metering to all customers. In order to move to twopart pricing for water, which was a key requirement of the state government’s reforms, Southern Water is installing water meters for every property to which it provides water services. While there are the obvious logistical challenges in installing the meters, one of the main issues that the company has had to address is communicating the purpose and importance of the meters to its customers. “There are various areas of customer relations that we have had to focus on with this project and communication has been key. The people of Southern Tasmania have never had meters before, and people like to stick with what they are used to. So we have
as reducing bills. We will also be introducing a new volumetric pricing system, so we will undertake a major campaign to familiarise everybody with how
FRONTLINE ELECTRICAL Frontline Electrical is proud to be working closely with Southern Water to upgrade and maintain Critical Infrastructure throughout the state, and look forward to helping Southern Water secure safe reliable water supply and sewage services for every Tasmanian. With a wealth of Industrial Electrical experience Frontline has proven its ability to continually provide a high quality complete electrical service suitable for the requirements of customers such as Southern Water Frontline Electrical provides specialised industrial maintenance, project and engineering services, from breakdown service to completion of major projects, instrumentation, control systems and power installation, Frontline Electrical is your Tasmanian Industrial Solution Provider. 44
SOUTHERN WATER TASMANIA
and the new pricing regime in place by 1 July 2012. “There are more than 50 thousand water meters
the project as we wanted to ensure that we got the
extensive consultation period and tender process with contractors and suppliers. In the end we chose Elster
the water meters is that its equipment include wireless meter reading technology. This aspect alone is expected to deliver A$10 million in savings to
practice, explains Paine.
WHEN YOU NEED ...
THE BEST
FE Frontline Electrical Pty Ltd
Industrial Installation I Project Management Instrumentation I Automation
Frontline Electrical has been established to offer a complete electrical service for all Industrial customers in Tasmania. Our aim is to provide specialised and highly skilled services for Industrial Customers. Since its origin in May 2008, Frontline has steadily grown and built on its clientele to become a major supplier of industrial services to Southern Tasmania. Frontline Electrical have specialist skills in the food, beverage, timber, brewing, water reticulation & filtering and high speed manufacturing, and presently provide maintenance and project services within Hobart to several major customers. OUR SERVICES • General Industrial Electrical installation and maintenance. • Management of Industrial projects. • Instrumentation specification and Installation. • Design and build electrical control and safety systems. • System integration, Scada and PLC configuration and programming. • Fault finding on your electrical systems. • Project installation and commissioning to your specifications. Frontline prides itself on going above and beyond to ensure our customers receive the best service from design stage to commissioning. ECL 949123
e: [email protected] FE Frontline w: frontlineelectrical.com.au Electrical p: 03 6228 1022
Industrial Installation I Project Management
45
SOUTHERN WATER TASMANIA
customer service and all of the things that brings with it. Therefore, we are ensuring that everybody in the company understands that we are all responsible for customer service. So fundamentally, we are asking ourselves for three things: We must all understand what is it we aim to do for customers. Each of us needs to understand all make sure that we come to work with our heads switched on and thinking about what we can do to improve the things we
46
are already doing. That is the theme we are moving towards now.” This theme is also what governs Paine’s vision of the future for Southern Water. “There is some uncertainty as to what the water industry in Tasmania will look like in the future, in that there may be
that we become a business that is well respected by our customers and our peers.” END To learn more visit www.sawater.com.au
big plans & major challenges Southern Water is the sole provider of water services to the south of the island state of Tasmania. However, since it began working in 2009, it has had to rapidly modernise what had been a fragmented system. CEO Mike Paine tells Australasia Outlook about the challenges it has faced and how a new focus on the needs of the customer will be the key to its future success. BY Jane McCallion 40
SOUTHERN WATER TASMANIA
S
outhern Water was founded through state government reforms of Tasmania’s water and sewerage industry in 2008 and commenced operations on 1 July, 2009. The company provides water and sewerage services to approximately 100,000 customers across 12 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state of Tasmania and is also wholly owned by the 12 local government authorities. It employs approximately 380 revenue is A$125 million. The business came into being after the state government undertook a review of the water and sewerage industry in Tasmania and decided a restructure was required to standardise water and sewerage services for customers . Previously, there had been approximately one service provider in each of the 29 LGAs, however after rationalisation there are now three water corporations each serving a wider area. A fourth subsidiary, Onstream, provides shared services to all three regional water corporations. Southern Water is currently undertaking a number of major upgrade reliability of water and sewerage services, as CEO Mike Paine explains. “The state government review found that the service levels provided by our existing infrastructure did not meet the statutory requirements that were laid out in the new legislation. Consequently, we have about half a billion dollars of capital works to implement in order to improve service standards.” A major focus of the upgrade plan is the sewerage treatment and distribution systems. When Southern Water took over as the water services provider for the 12 southern Tasmanian councils, it was immediately faced with a huge compliance challenge. “Not one of the sewage treatment plants that we inherited complied with the license requirements,” says Paine. “So, we have undertaken a substantial systems review, which is still partially ongoing, to see if we can rationalise or reduce the number of plants.
“We are moving our strategy towards more effective customer service and all of the things that brings with it” Mike Paine Southern Water CEO
At the same time, we will be seeking to update the treatment plants that we do keep so that they are compliant with the legislation.” The project is a large undertaking in terms of both capital expenditure and timescale – the budget is A$400 million and is expected to be carried out over the next 10 years. At the other end of the company’s services is its water distribution system. “We are lucky in Tasmania in that we rarely have any real problem with drought here. However, we do have an ageing and very leaky distribution system at the moment, which causes a lot of unnecessary wastage,” explains Paine. In fact, the problems with the historical systems are bad enough that the majority of its business case savings will come from “Obviously it is not very good for the environment or for our business if we are expending energy 41
SOUTHERN WATER TASMANIA
treating the water to a high level and pumping it
organisation and our customers.” Another major project is underway to transform the way billing is carried out, by rolling out water metering to all customers. In order to move to twopart pricing for water, which was a key requirement of the state government’s reforms, Southern Water is installing water meters for every property to which it provides water services. While there are the obvious logistical challenges in installing the meters, one of the main issues that the company has had to address is communicating the purpose and importance of the meters to its customers. “There are various areas of customer relations that we have had to focus on with this project and communication has been key. The people of Southern Tasmania have never had meters before, and people like to stick with what they are used to. So we have
as reducing bills. We will also be introducing a new volumetric pricing system, so we will undertake a major campaign to familiarise everybody with how
FRONTLINE ELECTRICAL Frontline Electrical is proud to be working closely with Southern Water to upgrade and maintain Critical Infrastructure throughout the state, and look forward to helping Southern Water secure safe reliable water supply and sewage services for every Tasmanian. With a wealth of Industrial Electrical experience Frontline has proven its ability to continually provide a high quality complete electrical service suitable for the requirements of customers such as Southern Water Frontline Electrical provides specialised industrial maintenance, project and engineering services, from breakdown service to completion of major projects, instrumentation, control systems and power installation, Frontline Electrical is your Tasmanian Industrial Solution Provider. 44
SOUTHERN WATER TASMANIA
and the new pricing regime in place by 1 July 2012. “There are more than 50 thousand water meters
the project as we wanted to ensure that we got the
extensive consultation period and tender process with contractors and suppliers. In the end we chose Elster
the water meters is that its equipment include wireless meter reading technology. This aspect alone is expected to deliver A$10 million in savings to
practice, explains Paine.
WHEN YOU NEED ...
THE BEST
FE Frontline Electrical Pty Ltd
Industrial Installation I Project Management Instrumentation I Automation
Frontline Electrical has been established to offer a complete electrical service for all Industrial customers in Tasmania. Our aim is to provide specialised and highly skilled services for Industrial Customers. Since its origin in May 2008, Frontline has steadily grown and built on its clientele to become a major supplier of industrial services to Southern Tasmania. Frontline Electrical have specialist skills in the food, beverage, timber, brewing, water reticulation & filtering and high speed manufacturing, and presently provide maintenance and project services within Hobart to several major customers. OUR SERVICES • General Industrial Electrical installation and maintenance. • Management of Industrial projects. • Instrumentation specification and Installation. • Design and build electrical control and safety systems. • System integration, Scada and PLC configuration and programming. • Fault finding on your electrical systems. • Project installation and commissioning to your specifications. Frontline prides itself on going above and beyond to ensure our customers receive the best service from design stage to commissioning. ECL 949123
e: [email protected] FE Frontline w: frontlineelectrical.com.au Electrical p: 03 6228 1022
Industrial Installation I Project Management
45
SOUTHERN WATER TASMANIA
customer service and all of the things that brings with it. Therefore, we are ensuring that everybody in the company understands that we are all responsible for customer service. So fundamentally, we are asking ourselves for three things: We must all understand what is it we aim to do for customers. Each of us needs to understand all make sure that we come to work with our heads switched on and thinking about what we can do to improve the things we
46
are already doing. That is the theme we are moving towards now.” This theme is also what governs Paine’s vision of the future for Southern Water. “There is some uncertainty as to what the water industry in Tasmania will look like in the future, in that there may be
that we become a business that is well respected by our customers and our peers.” END To learn more visit www.sawater.com.au
