THE Office of Utility Regulation yesterday praised Guernsey Post for its performance. The first set of quality of service figures showed the company’s own operations generally met or exceeded OUR targets between October and March.

The performance of other services was affected by the quality of Guernsey Post’s partners.

But the regulator did warn about the number of misdeliveries and wants improvements over the next six months.

And the Guernsey Post Consumer Council welcomed the utility’s progress but also said that the number of misdeliveries had to be cut.

‘It is encouraging to see that, when the mail is within the control of Guernsey Post, the company is performing well,’ said OUR regulatory manager Jon Buckland.

‘The importance of having the whole range of measurements in place is also very clear. When end-to-end delivery results are compared with the Guernsey Post internal results, we can see that not only does the company have a major reliance on key business partners, but the performance of these business partners is affecting the quality of Guernsey’s mail.’

In March, the regulator ruled that from June Guernsey Post could increase local letter post from 22p to 26p and the cost of sending a letter to the UK from 27p to 32p.

At the same time changes to the bulk-mailing price structures were also announced.

Now the regulator’s main concern is some of the customer-facing measures, particularly the number of misdeliveries, which averaged 155 over the six months.

‘We welcome the joint efforts of the management and the workforce to address this issue,’ said Mr Buckland.

‘I would encourage customers to contact the company and tell them of any problems they may be experiencing with their mail so that these efforts can be targeted where the problem lies.’

Deputy Jack Honeybill, Guernsey Post Consumer Council chairman, was also troubled by the number of misdeliveries.

‘The council is still concerned about the number of misdeliveries because we keep receiving complaints from people who do not get their mail or who receive mail not intended for them,’ he said.

‘The unions, men and management have got to get together to try and solve the problem because in this area things do not appear to be improving at this point.’

Deputy Honeybill, who is resigning from the council as it is designed to be apolitical, said that in general he supported the progress made.

‘I know that much of the problems have been down to Royal Mail and that Guernsey Post is, at times, totally reliant on them. But when the mail gets here, it is shifted as quickly as possible.

‘I think we are moving in the right direction but we cannot be complacent and they have to get together to sort out the misdeliveries because too much time is spent handling complaints.’

Deputy Honeybill added that the council was in talks about a possible merger with the Post Office Users’ Council.

‘If in the future that happens, then it will make the voice stronger and give greater representation for the consumer.’

Yesterday’s report, produced by an independent research company, was the first biannual review of Guernsey Post operations. It showed that, between October and March, the utility met or exceeded 13 of the 23 targets set by the regulator.

The OUR is currently reviewing the report in detail but it will sanction or penalise Guernsey Post only following the end-of-year report when overall results can be evaluated.

‘This report provides a snapshot of how Guernsey Post is doing against the challenging but achievable targets set by the OUR following its wide-ranging public consultation in 2003,’ said Mr Buckland.

‘At the end of Guernsey Post’s financial year, when a full year’s performance is reported on, overall compliance with the targets can be measured.’