Ofwat Provides Scathing Assessment of Welsh Water’s Performance in Recent Evaluation

🚨 Welsh Water Gets a Thumbs Down from Ofwat! 🚨

Yikes, Welsh Water (Dŵr Cymru) didn’t make a splash in Ofwat’s latest report, landing in the lowest performer category for water companies across England and Wales for 2024-25. This not-for-profit company needs some serious catching up to do, with issues flagged in areas like leakage, supply interruptions, and drinking water quality. 📉💧

On the brighter side, they’ve been acing internal sewer flooding management for the past four years and boast a decent score in customer satisfaction and sewer collapses. 🥇👏

But it’s not all rainbows. Downgrades by credit agency heavyweights like Moody’s and Fitch have hit Welsh Water hard, driving their borrowing costs sky-high. They’re aiming to cut jobs by 12% (that’s around 500 people) in a big restructure move to get their finances back on track. 🏗️💸

Adding to these challenges, earlier this year, customer bills went up by an average of 27% to handle rising costs. Ouch! 😬

In a shift, Peter Perry is passing the baton to Roch Cheroux, the ex-chief of state-owned Sydney Water, who will formally take over the CEO role next April. 👥

Oh, and bonus scandal alert—Welsh Water backtracked on potential £147,000 bonuses for execs amidst their struggles. Ofwat had something to say about that, making sure no customer money bails them out! 🚫💰

Welsh Water needs a solid plan to bounce back, but with a £3bn fundraising target over four years, it’s a tough road ahead. Stay tuned to see how they navigate this stormy water! 🌊⚓

#WelshWater #OfwatReport #WaterIndustry #BusinessNews #WalesNews