MP lambasts Hafren Dyfrdwy over our 50% water bill hikes

Montgomeryshire & Glyndwr MP, Steve Witherden, has thrown his weight behind MyWelshpool readers’ call for Hafren Dyfrdwy to rethink their 50% water bill rises.

The ludicrous increase was highlighted by our story last week, with our correspondent revealing a £200 increase to his £400 water bill, with other readers sharing their own horror increases in the wake of it being published.

Hafren Dyfrdwy said they need the immediate increase to fund their urgent £260 million infrastructure programme, and we have no choice but to cough up.

But so many people are telling us they simply can’t, or won’t pay, and Mr Witherden is seeking an urgent meeting with the water firm’s CEO to discuss.

We have also been talking to OfWat, the water watchdog, to see what can be done. Their guidance dictates that Hafren Dyfrdwy should not hiking their water bills by more than £165 on average by 2030! This year, they said our bills should not be going up by more than £100 on average.

We have also asked them to intervene on our readers’ behalf, but in the meantime, they have told us: “It’s essential that all companies clearly communicate changes to bills so that customers fully understand how much they are expected to pay, and why this is the case.

“We introduced a customer-focussed licence condition last year to ensure decent standards are upheld and to improve customer trust. During what is a period of unprecedented investment for the sector, clear customer communication is crucial.”

Here is what Mr Witherden, MP, has told us.

“Readers may have seen last week that MyWelshpool has launched a campaign against Hafren Dyfrdwy after being inundated with complaints about the company’s significant hike to water bills.

I have received much correspondence from constituents on this, and I stand fully behind them. One single mother confided in me she was facing a bill of £700 for the year.

Hafren Dyfrdwy’s hikes are completely outrageous. I will be meeting with their CEO to personally demand an explanation and ask several key questions constituents need answers to: why customers are being left on hold for hours when enquiring about bills, whether the appeals process is fit for purpose, what mitigation schemes are in place, and how many people are expected to fall into arrears.

Attention – and anger – is justifiably directed at Hafren Dyfrdwy. Bills are where consumers come closest into contact with the water industry, and when things go wrong, it hits the pockets of ordinary people.

I am doing everything in my power to solve the problems of today, and if you are affected, I would urge you to contact me at steve.witherden.mp@parliament.uk. It is also my responsibility, however, to try and prevent the problems of tomorrow too.

That is why I have to turn to the root cause of these hikes, which is to say the great tragedy of water privatisation, started under John Major’s Conservatives in the early 1990s. I am no supporter of privatisation, and am of the opinion that it is immoral to allow a natural monopoly to be exploited for private profit.

Consumers have no alternative and will suffer what they must, unless they take coordinated, popular action, like this campaign.

Since then, profits from the sector have leaked out through bonuses to water executives and dividends to shareholders, rather than being reinvested into infrastructure upgrades for the public good.

To be truthful, some of those profits went into keeping bills deliberately low throughout the 2010s. That may sound desirable, especially in today’s context. But for anyone who has worked paycheck to paycheck and suddenly had to fork out hundreds of pounds or more when their car breaks down, because you have been unable to afford proper maintenance, the problem with this is obvious.

A stitch in time saves nine: the same principle applies to water. Whether the intentions were good (low customer bills) or bad (massive payouts to wealthy shareholders), both led to structural underinvestment and the problems we see today. Britain hasn’t built a reservoir since 1992, for example.

The government has announced it will build nine reservoirs with £104bn secured for the sector to the end of this decade. Labour is tackling the wider problem.

I last wrote about the water sector for MyWelshpool and MyNewtown in October, following the terrible floods along the Severn. Water is of course devolved to the Senedd, which is why I am pleased that Russell George MS is speaking out about this too. But we cannot tackle these root causes without cross-border cooperation. After all, our rivers flow through both England and Wales.

The Welsh and Westminster Labour Governments have therefore commissioned the biggest examination of the water industry in 35 years, establishing an Independent Commission. It will look into giving regulators more teeth, improving river health, and keeping bills down in the future while ensuring there is sufficient investment to prevent the same problems we are facing from happening again.

In the meantime, I will be working to get answers for constituents on the situation with Hafren Dyfrdwy. This is the first step. We deserve to know where the money is going.”