Can Hafren Dyfrdwy simply increase bills as much as they like? Who checks that they do what they say they will?
We understand that any bill increases can be a concern. We'd like to reassure you that we can't raise bills without a good reason. Any changes must be approved by Ofwat, the independent regulator for water companies in England and Wales.
Every five years, we put forward a plan showing how much investment is needed to continue providing reliable water services and make improvements for our customers. Ofwat reviews these plans and decides whether the proposed charges are fair. You can find out more about our current plans here.
Here you can see where we spend money. Most of it (the first three categories) goes on either investing for the future, or running the water and wastewater networks that serve our customers every day. If you live in Wrexham, Dŵr Cymru provides your wastewater services and sets this part of your bill, as shown below, we are required to pass them on..
Powys
Wrexham/Chester
Ofwat sets a limit on what we can charge our customers and sets charging rules that we have to follow. We report our progress every year, so Ofwat can check we’re doing what we’ve promised. If we fall short they can direct us to return money to customers to lower future bills.
You can find out more information about this process here:
Several organisations make sure water companies are providing services in a safe and responsible way. These include Welsh Government who set the water policy in Wales and they work closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) who are responsible for the environmental policy in England and Wales. National Resources Wales (NRW) is the environmental regulator in Wales and they help protect our rivers, lakes, wildlife and water resources to make sure water companies are meeting the environmental standards set.
Keeping water affordable for our customers is important to us. We already help many households through a range of financial support schemes, and if you're finding it difficult to pay your bill, we'd like to help you too. Please call or Whatsapp us on 0330 678 0679 or visit our Here to Help online hub here to see what support may be available.
Do water bills just go up all the time?
Actually, from 2010 to 2025 average water bills (excluding inflation) remained relatively steady.
When we remove inflation, average bills remained steady or even reduced in real terms in recent years - see the turquoise bars in the chart.
Over the 15 years to 2025, water companies were made to keep bills steady or grow them slower than inflation. In other words, bills reduced in real terms over this period. This is now changing, and bills are forecasted to rise (see the navy bars). Some of this will help to make up for years of insufficient investment. But most covers new requirements, including new legal standards for water and wastewater systems.
Why are we now having to pay to fix old problems?
If we look back at 1989, the water industry in England and Wales had been underfunded for decades by various governments that had other priorities. In the first 30 years since 1989, there has been investment of nearly £160 billion.
Average capital (infrastructure) investment by water companies in England and Wales (in 2023-24 prices).
Clearly there’s a lot more that the water industry needs to do now and in the future, but this past investment has made a positive impact:
Obviously we’re not saying everything is now solved. We still need to do more – on water supplies, the environment and support for customers. And that’s what we’re planning and you can see some examples of what this will look like in practice here.
Improving our water and wastewater services costs more than customer bills can cover on their own. We therefore use a mix of money from bills, borrowing and investment from shareholders to pay for day-to-day services and long-term improvements.
Water and wastewater infrastructure is expensive to build and maintain, and climate change and population growth will increase the pressure on it. Between 2025 and 2030, we’ll invest about £265 million to help secure future water supplies and protect the environment. Bills have increased to help fund some of this work, but if we only used money from customer bills to pay for it, bills would have to be much higher.
Water companies in Wales and England spread the cost of major improvements over many years, rather than asking today’s customers to pay the full amount through their bills straight away. This means today’s customers can benefit from improvements as soon as possible, while the cost is also shared with future customers who will benefit from them.
Once regulators approve the plans, investors provide some of the money needed upfront so water companies can start building and upgrading infrastructure. This investment is repaid gradually through customer bills. While their money is invested, investors receive a financial return, such as a dividend or interest payment which is set by Ofwat, the regulator for water companies in England and Wales.