Aqualia assumes with responsibility its commitment to the public to provide an excellent and quality service that meets the users’ expectations. It offers an integral multichannel service to respond to all its customers’ needs in a close and personalised manner.

This commitment goes beyond the management of the integrated water cycle through its involvement in the development of the cities in which it is present with initiatives that give value to its activity and guarantee a financially and socially efficient and sustainable management of the integrated water cycle.

A quality and close service

Aqualia’s commitment to value is fully aimed at the continuous improvement of relationships with end consumers through quality and innovation in its care for customers.

Water quality

The control analyses made daily in Aqualia’s facilities easily exceed the health criteria for water for human consumption in Royal Decree 140/2003.

The quality of the water managed by Aqualia is checked periodically by the exhaustive analysis of the water supplied to end customers. This work is carried out in the Aqualia laboratories – accredited as per the UNE-EN-ISO 17025 standard⁽¹⁰⁾. In 2016, a total of 865,790 parameters were checked, with a compliance level of 99.6%.

86.4% and 98% of the facilities in Spain are certified as per the ISO 9001 quality control and ISO 14001 environmental management standards, respectively.

Customers: from multi-channel to omni-channel

Aqualia bases its customer communication strategy on improving the user’s experience, providing access to information and interaction between consumers and the company thanks to the opportunities offered by new technologies for bidirectional, customised and real time communication.

In 2016, the company took a further step to offer a close and customised customer service.

With the launch of the new Smart aqua application, Aqualia entered the omni-channel ambit and proposed a new model of relationship with customers, integrated and interconnected so that the information in the various communication channels available to customers flows in real time.

The efficiency of these communication channels reduces the service’s response times with a positive effect on the number of complaints, which have reduced substantially in recent years, with an average response time to complaints of 16 days.

Digitisation is changing the way in which customers relate with companies. Consumers increasingly require a more fluid communication with immediate replies, adapted to their individual needs.

For this reason, Aqualia developed the Smart aqua application in 2016, offering a new, more transparent and closer window for communication with customers that facilitates access to undertaking procedures – in real-time – when the consumer so requires, easily and simply.

Smart Aqua handles all the procedures relating to the services provided by Aqualia – modification of data, consolidation of consumptions, sending of self-readings with photograph, payment of bills, consultations and requests, with full security.

What are the advantages of Smart aqua for customers?

• Optimises their time: permanent attention 24/365 without waiting or time limits.
• Facilitates an overview of their contracts, bills, consumption data and more.
• Easy to use and faster procedures.
• Access to services and functions for both customers and for users who are not customers.
• Fast response and flexibility.
• Information security.

Since its launch and up to 31 December 2016, the app recorded a total of 1,268 new users for 1,777 contracts registered.

In addition, a total of 9,808 procedures have been carried out.

AqualiaOnline is Aqualia's virtual office in which customers can carry out all their procedures simply, securely, quickly and confidentially, 24 hours a day for 365 days of the year through the local Web sites that Aqualia maintains in the cities in which it is responsible for managing the municipal water service.

With a total of 320,817 contracts registered in AqualiaOnline, a total of 329,935 requests were counted during the year, of which 1,498 were complaints.

The telephone attention service allows customers to carry out procedures and resolve any type of incidents without the need to visit the offices. The telephone attention is offered in six languages – Spanish, Galician, Catalan, English, German and French – and is also available 24 hours a day throughout the year.

In 2016, a total of 729,282 calls were received of which only 0.31% were complaints.

To measure its satisfaction level, at the end of the call, the client is offered the possibility of answer a survey. Surveys were made of 235,242 customers, users of Aqualia contact, of whom 170,308 classified the attention as excellent, 36,234 as very good and 18,399 as good, so that the positive satisfaction index reached 95.62%.

As well as the digital channels and telephone attention, customers who so wish can visit the company's offices in the localities in which it is present.

Responsible billing

Aqualia offers its customers personalised water consumption billing that structures the information simply and transparently to facilitate its interpretation by consumers and thus improve the quality of the service provided.

The bills include information on the costs of the complete cycle associated with water management – from supply to treatment – as well as additional information on other taxes and municipal or regional rates included in the bill.

These bills are also an effective channel for publishing social and environmental awareness campaigns on the importance of efficient management by Aqualia and the involvement of the public in the responsible consumption of water for everyone to achieve the sustainability of the water resources in time.

Electronic billing

The number of customers with electronic bills increased by 70% compared to 2015, thanks to Aqualia's campaigns to invite users who receive paper bills to switch to the digital format.

In 2016, Aqualia became one of the national companies with the largest number of customers joining the e-billing service.

The public's response to the campaign translates into an estimated saving in paper equivalent to more than a million and a half bills per year. The protection of the environment is a commitment that unites all of society and a responsibility for companies such as Aqualia, committed to offering an efficient and quality service to the public while respecting the environment.

Meters: reliable and precise

Users’ water consumption is measured with sophisticated meters, approved with strict quality control, that guarantee that only the volume of water consumed is billed.

In 2016, Aqualia continued to progress in the installation of remotely-read meters that offer a higher degree of information reliability and exactly show the consumption and avoiding unnecessary estimates.

During the year, a total of 5,085 new remote meters were installed – 9% more than in the previous year – with a total of 127,753 channels available for increasing the reading.

The number of intelligent meters installed also increased during the year, providing each user with precise and customised information on consumption patterns, tariffs and services in the system. This allows the identification of points for improvement and other advice for the customer regarding the optimising of water consumption.