£10 refund as Welsh Water admits bill errors

Welsh Water has admitted making mistakes and is giving customers a £10 rebate

Welsh Water customers will get a £10 rebate on their bills after the company admitted mistakes in its data on leakages and water use.

Industry regulator Ofwat is investigating after an internal review found "governance and management oversight failures" in data reporting.

Water leaks were found to be at a "much higher level" and usage per customer was lower.

The Welsh Water boss said he was "very sorry and disappointed".

It comes days after the company, the Welsh government and environmental authorities urged the public to be "thoughtful" in their use of water to avoid last summer's drought restrictions.

Ofwat said the enforcement investigation related to the accuracy of information reported by the company.

The watchdog sets yearly performance targets for water companies on leakage and per capita consumption.

Ofwat CEO David Black said the probe would consider "the circumstances that led to the company reporting inaccurate performance and what steps it has taken or is taking to address these failings".

When will I get the £10 rebate?

Every Welsh Water customer – households and businesses – who had a live account on 31 March 2023 will get a £10 credit on their account.

The company said it aimed to have credited everyone within six months and the rebate would show on their next bill.

Customers with a water meter can expect to see their rebate in the next six months.

Those without a water meter will see the credit in their bill for February or March 2024.

Welsh Water serves most households and businesses in Wales and manages reservoirs like the Craig Goch dam in Powys

Welsh Water said its own review first identified the concerns, which were then "reviewed fully over the past 15 months with support from independent experts".

Total leakage for 2021-22 was 240.3 million litres per day compared with the 157.4 million litres per day reported.

Water consumption per household dropped from 174.7 litres per day in the initial figures to 154.8 litres per day when revised.

Welsh Water CEO Peter Perry admitted "failures in our governance and management oversight processes"

The company said it was allocating an additional £54m to tackling leaks, increasing its total spend on this between 2020 and 2025 to £284m.

Welsh Water CEO Peter Perry said: "Whilst our robust assurance process ultimately identified the issue, there were failures in our governance and management oversight processes that allowed this to happen in the first place.

"We have made the necessary changes to how we manage leakage reporting and closed the gaps in our reporting and governance processes."

The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) said the "£10 rebate will go some way to reassuring customers" that Welsh Water "regrets the damage that this will have caused to people's trust" in the firm.

"It is reassuring that the company identified the issue through its own assurance processes," added CCW boss Emma Clancy.