Icon Water wants to know what you think of its service

Icon Water’s ‘Let’s Talk Water and Wastewater’ online engagement program is now live. Photo: Icon Water.

Icon Water is on a mission to improve its service by seeking customer feedback via new online engagement program ‘Let’s Talk Water and Wastewater’.

Customers, residents, stakeholders and partners will all be able to log in to give feedback, which will then be used to shape and inform Icon Water’s business strategies. This is to ensure the company reflects the priorities and expectations of the ACT community when it comes to water and wastewater.

Icon Water’s general manager, customer engagement, Davina McCormick, says this isn’t the first time the company has sought to engage with the local community, but it is the most comprehensive.

“Icon Water is an essential service provider to the community so it’s really important to us that the service we offer reflects the needs and expectations of this community we serve,” she says.

“Engagement is not new to us, but what we are doing is looking to broaden and deepen that connection with our community and bring it together.

“We previously had a program called ‘Talking Icon Water’ which was talking to our customers about our last price proposal and how we would make decisions on what we would invest in for the period we’re now in.

“But we want this [program] to be bigger than that.”

The price review initiative will be the first project open to community feedback, but the ‘Let’s Talk Water and Wastewater’ platform will also be crucial in shaping Icon Water’s future decisions by hosting many other future planning and investment decisions for community comment.

Every five years, the ACT Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is in charge of reviewing Icon Water’s service and setting its maximum prices. As part of this process, Icon Water builds a proposal for the ICRC to review.

The new online portal for customers to engage with Icon Water. Image: Icon Water.

Icon Water is hoping the insights its gathers from the ‘Let’s Talk Water and Wastewater’ platform will inform the latest price proposal for the 2023-2028 period. The proposal will outline its priorities and investments, as well as the cost for customers.

To increase the chances of getting it spot-on, Icon Water has also opened an online survey. Entrants go into a draw to win a $80 EFTPOS gift card by answering five brief questions about themselves. You won’t be identified in any way.

Davina says it won’t be the only way Icon Water will be interacting with Canberrans.

“During the next few weeks, you will start to see us out and about as well as online, talking to our customers, stakeholders and partners,” she says.

“There will be a number of opportunities for the community to participate. Engagement via focus groups, forums, community pop-ups, polls, surveys and social media will allow the community to tell us about what they value, their priorities and any concerns regarding water and wastewater in the ACT.”

Icon Water has also adapted its program in light of recent COVID-19 developments to ensure Canberrans are still able to participate while in lockdown.

More projects will be added to the ‘Let’s Talk Water and Wastewater’ platform in the coming months, giving the community greater insight into how Icon Water is maintaining and improving its infrastructure.

You can visit the ‘Let’s Talk Water and Wastewater’ platform at Icon Water, and complete the online survey here.