Secrets of Success: Lucy Darch, CEO of Wave

Wave is a national water retailer, working with business customers of all sizes to help them benefit from the open water market in England.

Wave helps businesses keep track of and manage their water usage, offering support and guidance on how to maximise efficiency and identify where potential savings can be made.

Working with businesses across a range of sectors including retail, leisure, transport and manufacturing, Wave’s highly experienced teams possess decades of experience supporting SME, public sector, large and multi-site organisations across all industries. Whether it’s water, wastewater or trade effluent services, Wave’s team of in-house experts are able to support a diverse range of businesses, whatever their needs.

Wave was formed as a joint venture between Anglian Water and Northumbrian Water following the de-regulation of the non-household water market in April 2017, which meant that businesses, charities, and public sector organisations were no longer tied to a single regional provider for all their water services. Wave was initially created to support all of the businesses in Anglian Water’s and Northumbrian Water’s regions with their billing, meter reading, customer service and water efficiency needs and to compete nationally for new business.

Now seven years in operation, Wave is the third largest retailer in the Non-Household (NHH) water market, supporting over 300,000 businesses. The business currently stands at over 324 employees across its Durham and Peterborough offices, with 41 new starters in the last year alone. Wave has established itself as a key player in the sector with a great reputation for its customer focus, social value and wellbeing culture.

What is the main problem you solve for customers?

Wave’s aim is to make it as easy as possible for businesses to have a water supply – as it really should be. Businesses should know exactly what price they’re paying, easily understand their bills and have their meter read regularly. The activities associated with delivering all of this generally aren’t high on people’s radars, however, if customers do need to interact with us, we also want to make that as efficient as possible.

What we aim for is to be the most customer-focused utility, by prioritising the delivery of value and efficiency and having a low cost to serve but also excellent customer service. The importance that we place on the customer experience really sets us apart and means that we have a very loyal customer base.

What are your brand values?

Wave’s values are ‘putting the customer first’, ‘succeeding together’, ‘being accountable’ and ‘embracing learning’, all of which form the foundation of what we do here. As a business we’re as open and honest as possible, and we trust in our people, so from day one they’ll be encouraged to be accountable and take ownership. This is key to helping our people grow and succeed within their role, which in turn then enhances the experience of our customers.

Do your values define your decision making process?

Our brand values, along with our Social and Sustainability Promise, are responsible for the decisions we make and the direction we choose to take the business. From its formation in 2017, I always wanted Wave to act, do and be different. To be focused not just on standard business drivers such as making profit, but to also drive positive change within the industry and the wider communities in which our customers and employees live.

Our Social and Sustainability Promise outlines Wave’s ambition and commitment towards making a positive difference to our society and the environment, whilst aligning to key UN Sustainability Goals.

Is team culture integral to your business?

We’ve always endeavoured to shape our culture in a way that brings out the best in people, by building a culture of feedback and trust with wellbeing at its core. This year I was extremely proud to see our commitment recognised at the Employee Experience Awards, with a Gold Award for our Health and Wellbeing strategy.

Our culture is driven by an employee-led approach, with many of our wellbeing benefits, groups and tools suggested by our people. We also have a representative from all areas of the business on our active internal Health, Safety and Wellbeing Forum and a waiting list of people wanting to join.

We constantly strive to provide an elevated level of support to our team. Our goal is to ensure that our employees’ experience at work is a positive one, where they feel comfortable bringing their full selves to work and have the support and tools they need to succeed in their roles.

Is tech playing a much larger part in your day-to-day running of your company?

Advancements in technology play a huge role in evolving our practices and allowing us to provide a better experience for our customers. We’re investing in our online journey, making our online account quicker and simpler to use as well as using new platforms to support all of our customers with their High Consumption Alerts. This all allows us to help businesses with their drive to become more sustainable and identify potential cost savings.

At Wave we are focused on data quality, automation and digitization and we aim to reduce the level of repetitious tasks via automation and accurate data. New tech allows us to digitize and streamline more of our activity, as seen through our eBilling option, which lowers the demand for paper billing, providing a better experience for our customers and supporting our sustainability goals.

What is your company’s eco strategy?

A key focus of our activity is shaped by our Social and Sustainability Promise which commits to becoming net zero by 2030 as well as saving 9.4 million m3 of water by the end of our current business planning period of 2026. A lot of people and businesses don’t realise how scarce a resource water is. We want to help businesses use their water as efficiently as possible, which might be by sending out high consumption alerts, or for some of our larger customers, encouraging them to think of water as a strategic asset and developing strategies and processes to help them operate more efficiently. This is something I believe all businesses are going to need to focus on more in the future.

Do you have any advice for anyone starting out in business?

If you work in utilities you have to enjoy being focused on data and processes – it’s an important skill in a lot of sectors but particularly within utilities.

There’s also a Richard Branson quote that is good to keep in mind when you’re starting out: “If someone offers you a really amazing opportunity, say yes and learn to do it later.” I love that attitude because there are a lot of opportunities at Wave, giving people the chance to take secondments and move between teams. Gone are the days that people stay in one role or business forever. You can move to a new role and hone your skills by trying out different things until you find something that you’re passionate about and enjoy doing.