Welsh Water vows to cut household bills by £22 over five years
NOT-FOR-PROFIT water company Welsh Water has confirmed plans to cut household bills by £22 over the next five-year regulatory period.
Subject to its business plan for 2020-25 being approved by water industry regulator Ofwat, Welsh Water will also invest a £2.3bn investment in the business.
The proposed £22 reduction in average household bills is before inflation.
The business plan has been shaped by its biggest-ever customer engagement programme, with detailed input from 40,000 customers, and builds on the £2bn investment between 2015-20.
The process – undertaken every five years and known as PR19 – has resulted in an investment plan shaped by customers themselves, and prioritises balancing investment with keeping bills affordable, more support for its most vulnerable customers, and tackling some of the biggest challenges facing the company over the next three decades.
It follows the publication of the Welsh Water 2050 Vision, which details how the company will tackle challenges facing the delivery of its services over the next three decades including the consequences of climate change, population growth, ageing infrastructure, the growth of the digital economy and changing customer expectations.
The company, owned by Glas Cymru, serves more than three million customers across most of Wales, Herefordshire and parts of Deeside and Cheshire. A total of around 40,000 customers fed in to the development of the plan over two years.
Welsh Water chief executive Chris Jones said: “As a not-for-profit company, our customers’ interests are at the heart of everything we do.
“The plans aim to strike the right balance between investment for the future and making sure bills remain affordable for customers today. With better service, more help for the vulnerable, increased investment and lower bills, we are confident that this plan offers even better value for money for our customers in the years ahead.”
Glas Cymru chairman Alastair Lyons said: “This plan is the culmination of over two years’ work and we would like to thank all those thousands of customers and other stakeholders who have contributed their views during this process to help make this the most customerdriven business plan Welsh Water has ever produced.
“We believe that this is an ambitious plan which represents both a material step forward in ensuring the resilience of the business against the challenges of the future and good value for customers for the next five years, and for generations to come.”
Welsh Water’s business has also been scrutinised by the independent Customer Challenge Group (CCG).
Its chairman Peter Davies said: “Our report demonstrates the scale of engagement the CCG has had with the company throughout the process of developing the plan. The plan has been influenced by customers and the contribution of the CCG throughout its development.
“It is the CCG’s view that the company has been successful in securing an understanding of the representative views of its customer base, and that this evidence has been used to develop the performance commitments and customer bills in the business plan. The final acceptability testing demonstrates strong support for the plan that meets customers’ expectations, representing improved value for money.”