Welsh Water invests £161m as profits drop

Welsh Water has invested £161 million in water and environmental service improvements, as its profit fell in the first half of the financial year.

In its financial report for the six months to September 2016, the water firm laid out its latest £161 million investment. This forms part of a wider £1.7 billion investment in its network between 2015 and 2020.

The water firm also reported a £24 million drop in underlying profit to £1 million (2015: £25 million). It said the reduction reflects increased expenditure, including on the maintenance of infrastructure assets, and increased interest costs resulting from higher RPI inflation.

Glas Cymru chairman Alastair Lyons said: “Welsh Water has continued to make strong operational and financial progress over the past six months, our unique not-for-shareholder model puts customers first to provide the high-quality service they rightly expect.

“Over the coming months we will continue to implement an extensive investment programme to improve further the services we provide.”

Welsh Water chief executive Chris Jones said: “These results are testament to the customer-led way of working that is a fundamental part of our not-for-profit model.

“The progress we’ve made is borne out in the encouraging independent reports, which show we are consistently achieving amongst the highest standards of customer satisfaction in our industry.

“Our challenge now is not only to maintain these standards but improve on them, so that we are meeting our customers’ expectations all of the time.”

Welsh Water serves more than three million customers across much of Wales, Herefordshire and parts of Deeside. The company is owned by Glas Cymru and does not have shareholders, so it invests any gains back into the business to help improve services, keep bills lower and accelerate investment in areas that will directly benefit customers.

The latest £161 million funding will go towards improvement projects including:

• £31 million in Bryn Cowlyd water treatment works, which will ensure customers in Llandudno, Colwyn Bay, Conwy and the surrounding area continue to receive a high-quality drinking water supply
• £5 million at Llanberis wastewater treatment works, to make sure the treated water leaving the works is of the highest standard
• £7 million in its wastewater treatment works in Chester, which includes improved treatment processes and new river pumps to reduce the chance of flooding in the local area
• £21 million in the water network in Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, £10 million in Flintshire and £15 million in north Herefordshire, to provide customers with clean, fresh water by replacing or cleaning more than 300km of pipes
• £8.5 million in Haverfordwest, to improve the environment and prevent future flooding by building a brand-new treatment works in Hook
• £7 million in the bathing waters in Gower, to help ensure that Wales retains around a third of all the UK’s Blue Flags – whilst only having 13 per cent of the coastline.