Chief Executive Officer's statement

I am proud to be Chief Executive of the company that serves London and the surrounding area. It provides the essential utility service for millions of customers, and is addressing the pressures of population growth and climate change to ensure we have enough water for all our customers, treat their wastewater to the highest standards and protect our local environment.

These are key issues for everyone at Thames Water. Like the rest of South-East England, we operate in a region classified by the Environment Agency as 'seriously water stressed'. We receive less rainfall per head, for example, than Rome, Istanbul, Dallas or Sydney.

We also have the UK's largest customer base, and supply a city that is home to our national government and most of its economic infrastructure.

But our responsibilities go beyond the provision of day-to-day services. I believe we have an important role to play in shaping the future of the water industry. That includes helping define its response to environmental challenges, how it communicates with customers and how it responds to a range of new regulatory and legal drivers.

As you can see within this report, we now have a solid record of achievement over the last four years, won through concentrating on the basics of our regulated business – although, of course, there are many things we can and must do better.

One of the key issues facing us is where we head over the next 25 years.

Our long-term strategy includes addressing some of the big challenges for our sector. That includes increasing our production of 'green' electricity by creating energy from waste, and focusing on sustainable growth.

In addressing these challenges, it is important that we keep our various stakeholders updated on our plans and seeking their feedback. I met a number of these at our annual corporate responsibility review, and enjoyed the opportunity to brief them in person and answer their questions.

I was able to tell them how I see things over the next few years. One change going on in the industry is a move towards measuring customer service on the basis of quality, rather than simple metrics like how long it takes to answer a letter or email.

This is something we welcome. Customer service is a real passion of mine, and I recently introduced a move to ensure our senior managers each spent time resolving customer queries, personally, to ensure this is something that's at the forefront of all our thinking.

I am confident we will further improve our customer service, through the enhancements outlined elsewhere in this report. We will also be making advances in other parts of our business – for example, by investing in our water treatment and supply, further reducing sewer flooding and continuing to manage and reduce our impact on the natural environment.

We expect to be judged on our results. As someone who takes great pride in the heritage of Thames Water, I know that the decisions and actions we take now will write the next chapter in our history.