Void sites - performance commitment data

What are performance commitments (PCs)?

The water regulator Ofwat sets targets called performance commitments (PCs) to ensure companies deliver the best possible service for customers, society and the environment. Wessex Water has a range of PCs for the 2020-25 period.

Each year we report our results against these commitments, in our Annual Performance Report.

Where appropriate we’re publishing the data underpinning calculation of the PCs – you can find our other PC datasets in the Performance Commitments section. 

Void sites PC

Some properties connected to our network aren't billed for the services they're using. Often this is because a property is empty. But in some cases a property can be unbilled even though it is occupied. Properties in our supply area, which are connected for water and / or wastewater services but do not receive a charge are known as void sites.

There will always be a natural level of void properties, but we are keen to ensure there are as few as possible.

The void sites PC reports the percentage of our total household properties that are classified as void. The measure does not count properties that we choose not to bill because the cost of sending a billing and processing a payment is likely to exceed the bill.

This PC incentivises us to bill the maximum number of possible properties, ensuring fairer charges between customers and lower bills for customers already being billed.

Dataset details

The dataset shows the number of void properties in different areas of our region, as at March of each reporting year. The figures are presented by geographical areas called MSOAs (Middle Layer Super Output Areas). MSOAs are sub-divisions of local authorities and have a mean population of 7200 and a minimum population of 5000.

The dataset does not include data for non-household properties, as these are excluded from the PC.

How was this data collated?

Each month, our billing company (Pelican) extracts the void base data for us from the household customer billing system. We use this for our monthly void calculations. An average over the year is used for our annual reporting to Ofwat.

The published data is the information for March of the relevant reporting year (i.e. the final month in the reporting calendar). The data is aggregated into MSOAs to make it suitable for publishing.

Data quality

A small number of voids are missing where we have not been able to map to an MSOA.

The published dataset is the void position as at March of each reporting year. The performance commitment that we report to Ofwat is calculated as an average over the year therefore may not exactly match the data published.

Publish frequency

For the remaining years of the 2020-25 period, an additional year of data will be added after the annual reporting period.

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If you have any questions or comments about this data set, please get in touch via opendata@wessexwater.co.uk

This dataset is licensed under CC BY, an open data licence, to make it freely available to other potential customers, stakeholders or interested organisations.