Water customers face choice between higher bills or slower fixes - new boss

Welsh Water customers face a choice between higher bills or waiting longer for improvements, its new boss has said.

Roch Cheroux said ageing infrastructure and years of under-investment mean the company cannot improve performance without significant new spending that's funded by customers.

Earlier this year, the industry regulator found it failed to properly operate, maintain and upgrade its wastewater network to ensure it could cope with levels of sewage.

In Carmarthenshire, some people were sceptical over whether bill increases have or will lead to major improvements.

"The reality is that the only money we have… is the bills our customers are paying," Cheroux said.

"More investment means taking money from bills and using it to fix the assets."

Welsh Water apologised earlier this year, when it was hit with an enforcement package from regulator Ofwat, which included £40.6m to reduce spills and environmental damage, plus an extra £4.1m to improve river quality.

Cheroux, who took over the role in January, added: "The level of service we provide is not where it should be."

He pointed to the condition of pipes, treatment works and other infrastructure across Wales.

Much of that network, he added, is decades old and in need of replacement rather than simple repair.

"Some assets have been built a very long time ago… some now need replacement," he said.

People in most parts of Wales faced a 27% increase in their water bills from April last year, with the average annual bill going up from £503 to £639.

It marked the start of a five-year period of bill increases from Welsh Water, totalling 42% by 2029-30.

In Carmarthenshire, some people were sceptical about the translation of their money into improvements.

When asked if she would be happy to pay more, Fiona Davies, 59, from Ammanford, said: "I don't know, we don't see these changes, do we?"

Nidhi Rana, 31, moved to Llanelli from Scotland last year, and said the level of the bill was a shock, adding: "If they ask me to pay more, you mean, I'm not happy. Definitely not."

George Cheeseman, 59, from Ammanford, said the water bill was "far too high, especially for what we get in return".

"The amount of wastage that has been caused by under-investment is just unbelievable. Where's the money gone?" he added.

But he was open-minded about paying more, saying: "[It] all depends on the services that they're going to provide."

His wife Julie, 60, said: "There must be so many people out there struggling so hard.

"It's the elderly I feel sorry for as well.

"If the water services do improve, then I suppose we have to pay for what we have."

The body responsible for looking after the interests of customers said water companies had to show they were responsible with their money.

"The big question for consumers is how is that money being spent?" said Rhodri Williams, board member of the Consumer Council for Water, external.

"Is it being spent responsibly? Is it being spent to deliver the kind of service that they expect?

"And the answer to that, up until this point has been 'no'."

Williams said the level of trust in the water industry was "at an all-time low" across the UK.

"Only 50% of consumers think that their bill is fair," he added.

"So I think if the company wants to see bills increasing even more in future, it has to demonstrate to consumers that it can use that money responsibly and deliver real benefits to consumers in terms of the company's performance."

On the wider debate about the future of the water industry, including calls for nationalisation, Cheroux defended Welsh Water's not-for-profit model.

Unlike shareholder-owned firms, he said, any surplus is reinvested back into infrastructure and customer support.

"Every pound is reinvested into assets and social tariffs," Cheroux said, adding that nationalisation would come with "a big cost" to the government.

Ultimately, he said, the challenge facing Wales mirrors that of the wider UK in having to modernise a largely hidden system while balancing affordability for customers.

"We are at a point where we have a choice," he said.

"We can invest more and improve faster, or take longer to get there."