AM welcomes help for water customers

North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has welcomed Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s innovative new social tariff, ‘HelpU’, aimed at helping the company’s most disadvantaged customers.

 

From  April 1 it will be offering annual savings of up to £250 or 55% on the average household bill.



* Mark Isherwood AM.

Average household incomes in the area served by Welsh Water are almost 13% lower than the rest of England and Wales with some substantive areas being 20% below the average. 

 

To help combat this, Welsh Water’s new ‘HelpU’ tariff, which will benefit those on total household income of less than £12,500, has been developed with support from the independent consumer watchdog CCWater, the Welsh Government and Community Housing Cymru.

 

It is aimed at helping more customers than ever before who genuinely struggle to pay their water bills, with independent research showing that over 75% of the company’s customers support the new tariff.
 

Mr Isherwood, who attended Welsh Water’s briefing session on the new tariff in the Assembly last week, said: “We often speak to constituents who are struggling to make ends meet. As a result, I welcome this latest initiative by Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water which is aimed at helping even more of its customers who struggle to pay their water bills.

 

"I’d urge anyone who is worried about their water bills or wants to know what help is available to contact the company so that they can get the help they need as soon as possible.”

 

* Customers wishing to apply for help to pay their water and sewerage bills can visit dwrcymru.com or phone Welsh Water on 0800 052 0145. More details on who is eligible and other sources of support are available on the company’s website. 

 

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water Chief Executive, Chris Jones, said: “As a company owned on behalf of its customers, we are proud to be leading the way by launching a new social tariff that will, for the first time ever, help over 100,000 households on the lowest incomes so that they are able to pay their water bills.

 

"This is also a win-win for all our other customers as it will help us to keep down the level of costs as a whole, and so if customers are genuinely struggling with their water bills, we’d urge them to contact us to see if we can help.”