Unplanned Outage (Water Planning and Performance team) - Summer Placement null

About United Utilities 

United Utilities is the UK's largest water-focused utility company regulating water and wastewater management. United Utilities is involved in supplying and providing billions of litres of drinking water and recycled wastewater to the residents in North West England. The utility company also has an electricity distribution subsidiary.

Your role

Role overview:

• Unplanned Outage is a key performance indicator for United Utilities Water. This performance indicator is a measure of how much of the water treatment works production capacity is unavailable, due to equipment failures.
• The regulator Ofwat set challenging targets for levels of unplanned outages, and United Utilities will receive a financial penalty from the regulator if targets are not met.
• The Ofwat methodology for the calculation of unplanned outages will change for the 2025 – 2030 period. The new methodology is likely to pose an even greater challenge for surface water-fed companies such as United Utilities. It is vital that the team have a deep understanding of the current performance, and options to improve future performance before the company enter the 2025 performance reporting period.

United Utilities has identified three key Unplanned Outage workstreams that will enable the company to maximise its performance in the 2025 to 2030 period, these are:

• Methodology review
• Monitoring and Control policies and procedures
• Asset health management

Additional data analysis tasks may be required such as interpreting new targets or methodology changes set by Ofwat, exploring the work of other water companies in this area, and undertaking further ‘deep dives’ on trends revealed by the initial investigation.

Training & development

The successful intern will work with the Water Planning and Performance Team, and will be directly involved in:

Review in the top 10/15 outages over the last 4 years (AMP7)

• Which asset types or classes are contributing to Unplanned Outage performance
  • Are the team doing the right checks at the right frequency on these assets?
  • Do the team need to change the frequency or methodology of completing maintenance activity/checks
• How many Unplanned Outages could have been avoided by maintenance activity
• How many Unplanned Outages were prolonged due to lead times in getting spare parts
• Is there a common theme in long lead time for specific parts that the team don't hold in critical spares
• Is there a reason the team don't hold this item in critical spares

Compensation & benefits

United Utilities has a lot to offer.

• Salary: £23,152 per annum (pro-rota based on duration)
• You’ll join a thriving FTSE 100 company and as part of a great team
• You’ll be able to make your mark right from the start
• The option to buy additional holidays or to sell some of your holiday entitlement back
• Access to a company performance-related bonus scheme
• Discounted gym membership

Career progression

Full support will be given by the Water Planning and Performance Team. You will also get the opportunity to mix with current graduates who can share experiences, tips, and guidance with you for the next steps in your career.

Work-life balance

United Utilities supports and is truly inclusive of its colleagues, It seeks to adapt and offer a range of options to help people balance their home and work life including flexible working arrangements to support part-time working and hybrid working, where possible. The working hours for this role are 37 hours per week.

Culture & vibe

United Utilities values diversity, providing equality of opportunity to everyone. The firm aims to create a workforce that’s representative of the region and customer base. It’s essential to them that they can create an inclusive and supportive working environment where all the employees feel valued and free to contribute to their full potential.

About you

​​​​To apply you need to:

• Recent graduate or Undergraduate with a science, technology, or IT background.
• Have a strong foundation of maths and science A-levels.
• Have good computer skills, particularly in Microsoft Office.
• Be motivated and enthusiastic, an excellent team player, possessing ambition and drive.
• Possesses good written and interpersonal skills and have the ability to communicate and influence across all levels.
• Be able to be comfortable working flexibly across a range of tasks and activities to deadlines as well as being able to prioritise your time.

Sources

The following sources were used in researching this page:

• youtube.com/@unitedutilities
• unitedutilities.com/corporate/careers/why-work-for-us/benefits-of-working-for-us/
• unitedutilities.com/corporate/careers/graduates/internships/
• unitedutilities.com/corporate/responsibility/employees/diversity/
• unitedutilities.com/corporate/careers/why-work-for-us/diversity-and-inclusion/