At a time when consumers are struggling with increasing living costs, Thames Water, the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, has entered into a long-term partnership with fintech Paylink Solutions. The new partnership demonstrates best practice within the water sector around understanding customer affordability and making it easier for customers to engage.

By using Paylink’s Embark application, Thames Water customers will be able to provide a breakdown of their circumstances so Thames can set up a sustainable payment plan based on their affordability. Customers will also be able to use open banking along with the ability to request a payment proposal for managing their water bills. Importantly, this will enable Thames Water to support more customers and to better support customers in financial difficulty.

Thames Water will also be able to apply its eligibility criteria for support packages such as its social tariff, WaterHelp, from the data received. By utilising Paylink’s automated benefits identification, which is integrated into Embark, their customers will also be able to see their benefits entitlement, all while providing their affordability within Embark.