What is this about?
The rule aims to make sure water companies:
In short, it’s about making sure your voice genuinely influences what the company does.
Why this matters to you
Water companies make decisions that affect:
In the past, customers haven’t always felt involved or heard. This new approach is designed to build trust, improve services and make decisions fairer and more transparent.
How Hafren Dyfrdwy will listen to customers
Hafren Dyfrdwy already gather a significant amount of customer feedback and we plan to build on this further. Hafren Dyfrdwy uses several methods to understand what people think, such as a customer tracker survey, large-scale research on big decisions and local community engagement on major projects (like upgrading pipes or improving rivers).
How your views will shape decisions
Hafren Dyfrdwy must now show clearly how customer input influences decisions.
Customers will be involved in decisions that could have a real impact, such as:
For important decisions, Hafren Dyfrdwy will identify if the decision effects customers, gather customer views (if needed), present these views when making decisions and explain how feedback influenced the final outcome. If the final decision doesn’t fully match customer views, Hafren Dyfrdwy will explain why this is the case.
Customer involvement has materially shaped Hafren Dyfrdwy’s decisions in recent years.
For example, for its 2025-30 business plan, customer feedback led Hafren Dyfrdwy to further and faster with its actions to reduce spills from storm overflows into rivers.
How Hafren Dyfrdwy will learn from feedback
It’s not just about listening before decisions – it’s also about learning afterwards.
Hafren Dyfrdwy will:
A key part of this is independent customer panels organised by CCW (the consumer watchdog). In a recent session, they told Hafren Dyfrdwy they want clearer explanations of why bills are rising, more and better communications – including more localised information, and better visibility and promotion of the support on offer. Hafren Dyfrdwy has committed to an action plan that addresses all of these in detail
Next steps...
During the financial year 2026–27, Hafren Dyfrdwy will ask customers about topics such as:
This will help shape both immediate decisions and longer-term plans.
This is the first year of the new rule, so Hafren Dyfrdwy expects to learn from customers, regulators and other companies to improve its approach. Customers and stakeholders are invited to give feedback on this plan to help improve it further.