AS Tallinna Vesi's operational performance in 2014


Our first priority is to provide our customers with high-quality drinking water, reliable water supply and wastewater discharge service. We also think that it is equally important how we communicate with our customers and consumers and whether what we do is in alignment with the community. The indicators demonstrating our performance have been on a very good level already for years. We have seen stable improvement resulting in development and progress. Similar to previous years, 2014 can be characterised by consistently high quality levels across all the services we provide. In 2014, our relationships with customers continued to be very strong. Satisfaction with our performance is considerably higher than the European average, reaching the top 10% of European utility sector for several years.

We will continue to focus on maintaining and improving all our key performance indicators, so our consumers can rely on the service they receive. All twelve months of the year have shown that the quality of drinking water in Tallinn is excellent. We continuously commit to the improvement of customer service and our actions contribute to raising environmental awareness in the community.

Operational indicators in 2014:

Indicator 2013 2014
Drinking water
Compliance of water quality at the customers’ tap 99.70% 99.80%
Water loss in the water distribution network 16.98% 16.14%
Average duration of water interruptions per property              3.46 hrs              3,15 hrs
Wastewater
Number of sewer blockages 762 757
Number of customer contacts regarding floodings, blockages and storm water 1405 1060
Customer Service
Number of written complaints 118 76
Number of customer contacts regarding water quality 252 152
Number of customer contacts regarding water pressure 576 380
Responding to written customer contacts within at least 2 work days 99,1% 99,1%
Number of failed promises 117 54
Notification of unplanned water interruptions at least 1hr before the interruption 96.90% 95%

Tap water is drinking water

The quality of drinking water has a vital impact on public health and wellbeing. The drinking water quality in our capital city has been comparable to the tap water quality in any Western European countries already for years, thus, we continuously encourage people to drink tap water. 2014 customer satisfaction survey, carried out by an independent partner EMOR, confirms that both our customers and consumers trust the quality of tap water more and more each year. In 2014, 81% of consumers drank tap water compared to only 48% in 2011. This clearly demonstrates the importance of focusing on increasing people’s awareness of tap water quality.

The quality of drinking water is subject to very strict legal requirements and is in line with the Programmes of Monitoring Drinking Water Quality approved by the Health Board. Water quality is assessed by its compliance with the legal requirements. In 2014, we took 2 496 water samples from the customers’ taps in Tallinn and Saue. A record shattering of 99.80% of all those samples were fully compliant with the applicable quality requirements in 2014. Only six samples were non-compliant due to higher iron concentration. We immediately carried out maintenance works on the water network on the streets, after which the new samples taken were fully compliant. In Maardu, all the samples taken from the customers’ taps were 100% compliant with the requirements.

A reliable service

The availability of a reliable and high quality service 24/7 is vital to the population. Thus, we continue to focus on improving the reliability of our service further and strive to ensure a good quality service 24/7. As a result of the proactive planning and optimisation of works, we have managed to considerably reduce the duration of water interruptions year-on-year. As a result, less inconvenience has been caused to customers by water interruptions, resulting in fewer customer contacts. Compared to the same period of 2013, the number of customer contacts related to water interruptions has reduced by 1 227 or 45% in 2014.

Cleaner environment

Striving for a better tomorrow, our focus today continues to be on reducing the risks related to potential floodings, pollution and decreasing potential inconveniences to our customers. Preventive jet washing has resulted in an over 24% reduction in customer contacts related to sewer blockages and problems with storm water discharge.

The leakage level is consistently decreasing year-on-year. Figuratively speaking, constant reduction in leakage levels means that we are saving approximately 13 000 m3 of treated drinking water a day, compared to the time 10 years ago. Compared to 2013, the saving in 2014 was 200 000 m3, which is the average amount of water being consumed in Tallinn within three days. In 2014, the level of leakages was 16.14% compared to 16.98% in 2013.

Customer is our partner

Our aim is to cause as little inconvenience to our customers with what we do as possible. Each year, our customers have less reason to contact us and show their dissatisfaction with our action. This can be seen from the number of customer contacts and complaints, which has significantly decreased also in 2014 compared to 2013. This reduction is mainly related to the improved reliability of service resulting from proactive maintenance work. Consequently, the number of customer contacts in relation to water quality, water interruptions and water pressure have decreased by one third. While the number of complaints in 2013 was 118, in 2014 it had reduced to only 57. We believe it is very important that our customers know when their issues would get resolved. We thoroughly monitor our compliance with the promised deadlines and keep our customers informed, if we are not able to keep our promise. We also use Our Promises system, which means that we automatically pay compensation to customers if we break any promises. In 2014, we broke promises in 54 cases, showing a reduction by 54% compared to 2013.

We take the feedback to our service very seriously and each year an independent partner EMOR carries out a satisfaction survey among our customers and end users. Satisfaction is evaluated using the TRI*M index to measure the strength of customer retention. In 2014, customer retention was very good in all segments at 77-89 TRI*M index points. We have been able to further improve our customer relationship from already a very good level. Satisfaction with our service continues to stand out with the ratings significantly higher than the European average, reaching the top 10% of utility companies with the highest satisfaction rate.

Customer awareness

Our aspiration is to raise awareness and promote environmental lifestyle among the population. Thus we consistently educate the very little ones, as well as all the other consumers, to raise customer awareness. We encourage people to drink tap water by involving restaurants, partners and general public. The fact that people have become more aware of the quality of drinking water and value dialogue with the water company, is demonstrated by an increase in the number of people trusting to drink tap water. While in 2011 only 48% of our consumers were drinking tap water, in 2014 we have reached the record-shattering of 81%. This is a clear evidence of significant increase in people’s awareness, as the quality of tap water has been very good for several years.

To improve the population’s awareness of how to avoid blockages and any consequent problems, we created a unit “SAPO”. The aim of SAPO, i.e. sanitary police, is to remind people that toilet is not a bin and throwing rubbish there causes problems. In the end of August, we had a record-shattering of 850 people visiting the doors open days at Ülemiste Water Treatment Plant. This demonstrates that people are interested in how tap water is produced and how it gets to their taps.

         Mariliis Mia Topp
         AS Tallinna Vesi
         Head of Communications
         Tel:(+372)62 62 275
         mariliismia.topp@tvesi.ee