ERRU monitors the performance of water-sewage operators to ensure they fulfill their responsibilities and to see the progress they make to improve services. We want operators to be accountable for the services they provide, so monitoring their performance plays a very important role in our efforts to increase transparency in the sector.
A good regulation of the sector needs reliable information. Whether we want to protect consumers by promoting efficiency and improvements in service delivery or whether we want to protect the long-term future of our water and sewerage services by driving the right investments and helping companies achieve financial sustainability – we need to know the sector well to make the right decisions. Performance monitoring results and data analysis primarily feed into two key regulatory processes: rate regulation and performance reporting.
Performance Monitoring for Tariff Adjustment
Monitoring allows us to make a correct assessment of the performance of each operator and set challenging but realistic objectives that take into account current capacities. Achievements are measured by Key Performance Indicators. We use this standardized set of indicators across the sector, performance targets tailored to each operator, as we seek to drive improvements for both underperforming and high performing operators. Meeting targets is essential for operators seeking rate changes, as they need to demonstrate satisfactory performance before any rate change requests are approved.
Performance Reporting
Each year, the operator's operational, financial and customer service performance is subject to public scrutiny when we publish our Performance Report. In each report, we examine the performance of individual operators and compare with that of other operators, highlighting both the best and worst performing companies in the country. This is also an opportunity for us to reflect on the strategic goals of the sector, current trends and best practice in Albania.
Through our Performance Report, the operators themselves can evaluate their performance by comparing it with that of other operators of this service operating in similar environments and thus distinguish their strengths and weaknesses and learn from best practices. efficient or effective operational and management that are used in other countries.
Giving all stakeholders, including consumers, the opportunity to see the progress achieved in the water and sewerage sector and evaluate the performance of their local operator is also a powerful stimulus for the operators' efforts for excellence in service delivery. We believe that business leaders would prefer to see their companies among the best, and certainly not among the worst, in any subsequent report.
Performance Monitoring Data
To evaluate the performance of the operators, we currently use the data provided by the operators themselves, as well as the database of the Monitoring Unit of the General Directorate of Water and Sewerage in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. Since our data requirements go beyond the data normally collected by the Monitoring Unit, we ask operators for other, more detailed information, especially regarding the tariff change process. Based on the law, ERRU has the right to conduct field inspections to verify the accuracy of the data provided by the operators.
We are aware that our analysis of quantitative performance monitoring data may not always present the full picture. We aim to put these results in a real-life context, which is why we are considering taking into account other qualitative information in our monitoring approach, such as the assessments collected in Seancat Dëgjimore me publikun dhe përmes ankesave të konsumatorëve.