Every five years, water companies set out their plans for what they’ll deliver and how much they’ll charge customers. These are submitted to the regulator, Ofwat for scrutiny and challenge. This process is known as the Price Review.
The current Price Review (PR24) has already started and will conclude with Ofwat’s final determinations in December 2024. This will set the requirements for water companies and changes to customer bills, which will fund services and investments to deliver improvements from 2025-2030.
Wales Price Review Forum
In Wales, the government has set up a forum with key organisations that make decisions about water and wastewater, the environment, and bills. The forum has been discussing and agreeing shared positions in order to achieve the right balance of bills and investments. When making recommendations, the company considers the findings of customer research.
The members of this forum are:
- Water companies
- Ofwat
- Natural Resources Wales
- CCW
- Drinking Water Inspectorate
- Customer Advocates
In addition to the Wales Price Review Forum, Ofwat asked companies to hold “open challenge sessions” during the price review process to allow you to share your views on draft business plans directly with water companies. The first of these sessions took place March to June 2023. We have published the dates of the Autumn 2023 sessions of your water, your say.
More information about the Wales Price Review Forum and its membership can be found in the terms of reference – bilingual (pdf)
In August 2023 the forum issued strategic steers to both water companies operating in Wales to inform their business plans.
You can get in touch by emailing us at [email protected].
How your voice is heard
Your opinion is very important in influencing the price review process, and we want to make sure you are heard. Your views can be heard in the following ways:
- Your water company – speak to your water company when you need to they will use this information in their business plans to help identify investments priorities.
- Water company research – water companies engage with customers and do research to help inform the way they service you and how they develop their business plans.
- Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s Customer Challenge Group – various organisations are represented in this group, which reviews the results of customer research to ensure customer views are taken into account during the price setting process.
- Hafren Dyfrdwy’s Challenge process – The company appointed an independent challenge expert to provide scrutiny to the company price setting process and help take their customer views into consideration during the price review.
- CCW – we run an industry-wide challenge coordination group where we discuss best practices for company engagement and challenge.
- Ofwat – the regulator has set up a process to work together for an industry wide engagement and research so that the price review process is consistent across all water companies.