REGULATION OF WATER SERVICE QUALITY Paula Freixial 9.º Congresso Mundial da Água Lisboa, 21-26 de setembro de 2014

1. REGULATION OF WATER
SERVICE QUALITY
Paula Freixial
9th IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition
Lisbon, September 2014

2. CONTENTS
1. The role of the quality of service regulation
in water sector regulation
 Regulatory Model of ERSAR
 Synergies between quality of service regulation and other
behavioral regulation components
2. Assessment of water services
 Procedures for implementing the assessment system
 Measuring the quality of service
 Goals to be achieved by operators
 Publication of the results
 Results of the quality of service regulation
 Incentives and penalties
3. New challenges

3. 1.THE ROLE OF THE QUALITY OF SERVICE
REGULATION IN WATER SECTOR REGULATION
REGULATORY MODEL OF ERSAR
Structural regulation of the
sector:
Contribution
to a better organization
of the sector
Contribution to the
clarification of the rules
of the sector
Regulation of operator
behavior
Legal and contractual
monitoring
Economic regulation of
operators
Quality of service
provided
regulation
Water quality for human
consumption regulation
Consumer complaint
analysis
Complementary regulatory
activities:
Development and
dissemination of regular
information
Support for technical
capacitation of the
operators
REGULATORY MODEL

4. Structural regulation of the
sector:
Contribution
to a better organization
of the sector
Contribution to the
clarification of the rules
of the sector
Regulation of operator
behavior
Legal and contractual
monitoring
Economic regulation of
operators
Quality of service
provided
regulation
Water quality for human
consumption regulation
Consumer complaint
analysis
Complementary regulatory
activities:
Development and
dissemination of regular
information
Support for technical
capacitation of the
operators
REGULATORY MODEL
1.THE ROLE OF THE QUALITY OF SERVICE
REGULATION IN WATER SECTOR REGULATION
REGULATORY MODEL OF ERSAR

5. 1.THE ROLE OF THE QUALITY OF SERVICE
REGULATION IN WATER SECTOR REGULATION
SYNERGIES BETWEEN QUALITY OF SERVICE REGULATION AND
OTHER BEHAVIORAL REGULATION COMPONENTS
LEGAL AND CONTRACTUAL ECONOMIC REGULATION
REGULATION
Information gathered in QSR:
- may lead to decisions regarding Economic
Regulation, due to the possible need for new
investment to improve Quality of Service.
- can and should be cross checked for validation,
interpretation and analysis purposes with information
QUALITY OF
SERVICE
REGULATION
(QSR)
USER INTERFACE
REGULATION
DRINKING WATER
QUALITY REGULATION
Information gathered in QSR can contribute to:
- better organisation of the sector,helping to
identify any need for strategic reforms
- the clarification of rules of the sector, helping
to identify any need to modify legislation
- towards capacity building for the sector,
helping to identify any need to
carryout studies or training in this
area.
arising from Economic
Regulation.
Information gathered in QSR can and should be
cross checked for validation, interpretation and
analysis purposes with information arising from
Drinking Water Quality Regulation.
Information gathered in QSR can and should be
cross checked for validation, interpretation and
analysis purposes with information arising from
User Interface Regulation.

6. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
PROCEDURES FOR IMPLEMENTING THE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
Assessment
specification
by ERSAR
January
Operator
Processing &
interpretation
by ERSAR
June to August
Reporting by
ERSAR
October
Right-of-reply
by the
operators
September
Data collection
by the utility
March
Data
validation by
ERSAR (audits)
April to May
Portal
Guide
RASARP
Audits
Individual
evaluation
form
Consumer

7. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
• “Guia de Avaliação da Qualidade
dos Serviços de Águas e Resíduos
Prestados aos Utilizadores - 2.ª
Geração do Sistema de
Avaliação”.
– To be applied to all operators of
water services regardless the
ownership and their management
model.
– Applied from 2012, with 2011
data. All the operators must
submit data to the ERSAR site
until March, the 31st.
MEASURING THE QUALITY OF SERVICE

8. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
MEASURING THE QUALITY OF SERVICE
 Set of 16 performance indicators for each regulated service,
assessing:
 Protection of users interests
 Operator sustainability
 Environmental sustainability
Water supply services Wastewater services

9. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
GOALS TO BE ACHIEVED BY OPERATORS
• ERSAR established goals for the operators:
Ex 1. AR02 - Economic accessibility of the service (%)
Indicator Good Acceptable unsatisfactory
0 - 0,5% 0,5 - 1,0% 1,0% - + ∞
Affordability to the service
Ex 2. AR01 - Physical accessibility of the service (%)
APR AMU APU
Indicator Good Acceptableunsatisfactory Good Acceptableunsatisfactory Good Acceptableunsatisfactory
90 - 100% 80 - 90% 0 - 80% 85 - 100% 70 - 85% 0 - 70% 90 - 100% 80 - 90% 0 - 80%
Physical accessibility of the service
These benchmarks are national goals for all retail operators in Portugal.
APR - rural area; AMU – moderately urban area e APU –urban area.

10. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS
Data processing and publication of the results…
… through a set of tools, ex.:
• Paper format (RASARP)

11. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS
Geographical distribution for each performance indicator

12. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS
Data processing and publication of the results…
… through a set of tools, ex.:
• Paper format (RASARP)

13. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS
Annual benchmarking for all the operators for each
performance indicator

14. 2. Assessment of water services
PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS
Data processing and publication of the results…
… through a set of tools, ex.:
• Paper format (RASARP)

15. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS
Time evaluation for each performance indicator

16. 2. Assessment of water services
Annual assessment of the
quality of service provided
by each operator
PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS
Data processing and publication of the results…
… through a set of tools, ex.:
• Digital format (www.ersar.pt)

17. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS
Data processing and publication of the results…
… through a set of tools, ex.:
• Digital format (app)

18. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
RESULTS OF THE QUALITY OF SERVICE REGULATION
 Increase in the number of responses from operators
 Improvement in data collection quality and quantity had
an impact on quality of service assessment

19. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
PENALTIES AND INCENTIVES
 Based on the goals defined in the quality of service assessment
ERSAR is going to approve a regulation that will impose the
obligation to pay compensations to the users whenever minimum
quality of service standards are not met
 Ex: Service interruptions

20. 2. ASSESSMENT OF WATER SERVICES
PENALTIES AND INCENTIVES
 ERSAR has the statutory obligation to:
 Disseminate information concerning high
performance cases;
 Raise the community awareness to quality issues.
For all these reasons ERSAR decided to assign
the "Awards of Quality of Service in Water and
Waste".

21. 3. NEW CHALLENGES
 Continue to improve th e procedures to increase the data's
reliability and accuracy
 Improve the articulation with the economic regulation
 Adjust the goals of the indicators to address new emerging
challenges
 Making the information easier to understand by the
consumer

22. THANKS FOR YOUR
ATTENTION