Shining the spotlight on Tom O’Shea, Commercial Collections Team Leader

Can you talk us through your role?

I’ve worked in collections for 18 years – quite scary when you tot up the years like that! My team is also very experienced which is really good to know. My role is to put a strategy in place to ensure we bill within our agreed timescales and to maximise collections from business customers - after a bill is over 30 days past its due date that’s when my team gets involved and contact the customer.

Just like us, business customers have really experienced huge challenges from the pandemic, and industries like restaurants and pubs are still being impacted. Our aim is to quickly deal with a customer in arrears and get them on affordable payment plan to ensure the situation doesn’t escalate into a large unaffordable bill hitting their business.

Why is it so important for us for as many bills to be paid as possible? Well to put it bluntly, the more customers who are able to but don’t pay their bill, the more those who are responsible bill payers must pay!

Sometimes the reason the bill hasn’t been paid can be as simple as an outdated address. It’s only by our team getting involved that we can get to the bottom of it.

How do you work with businesses within your role?

We talk to businesses all day every day, from the initial process of sending them a bill, to working through our bills where we’ve had unusually high meter readings suggesting there could be a leak.

The way we work is we just want to get in contact with customers and have a good conversation. It’s all about understanding their current issues, assessing where they are and what they can afford, and then finally putting in place a robust payment plan that is achievable.

It’s also about educating our customers; making them aware of their options and what the potential consequences are. Businesses for example can get their water disconnected if they don’t pay their bills for a substantial time, which many people aren’t aware of.

Can you give us an example of how you’ve helped a business customer recently?

We had a large manufacturing company in west Wales who had a serious leak. We worked closely with other teams across Welsh Water, including the Business Services Team and Operations, to get to the bottom of where the leak was coming from and sort it out. Due to the sheer size of the leak, the customer was left with a large water bill of around £250,000.

We worked with the other teams and the manufacturing company to figure out how best to approach it and understand what was realistic for them. What transpired was the company had recently lost a large contract and there was a small threat of closure with 400 jobs on the line. As it is a big employer in the area, we knew that pushing hard for payment could result in the loss of jobs. Ultimately, if we enforce the bill and the company goes bust then we get nothing!

We therefore agreed to write off a fair amount of the debt in return for a payment plan where the company committed to paying the rest.  It was one of many great team efforts in Welsh Water to come to a really satisfying solution for everyone involved.

How have you survived lockdown?  

I’ve got two young girls, aged 6 and 9. Luckily my wife was furloughed first time round which was a blessing as I was working from home. Our lockdown survival tactic was to make the most of the weekends.

Every week we’d plan the next weekend around a different theme. We’d have a Spanish day with Spanish food, music and outfits to get our kids learning about different cultures. On Saturday morning we’d get our food delivered and in the summer we’d be in the garden. It was really fun and something I want to revisit this summer.

When restrictions started to lift, I did what I’d threatened to for years and bought a paddleboard to use on our Welsh beaches. While I mainly fell off it during the first year, I finally mastered it last summer.