In a week when the largest water company in the UK, Thames Water, is on its knees and close to insolvency despite a monopoly supplier to 16 million customers, I thought I would let you see a glimpse of the significant customer advantages of the not-for-profit Welsh Water model.

First though the headlines this week that appeared in the Financial Times and came from its Editorial Board. A respectable and highly regarded national newspaper, in a sea of capital tabloids, that is not prone to sensational, circulation-grabbing stories.

It read “Time to put Thames Water out of misery.” It went on to say that a combination of massive debt, operational issues, and appeals for higher water billing increases than Ofwat would allow, should mean that the Government takes over the company in a process called Special Administration.

Enough said and I 100% agree

So let’s look at an alternative to the English broken water model. Firstly, a background to my knowledge of that alternative.

Professor Tony Harrington was a WW Director, and I worked closely with him at SWW and YW. Sadly he died far too young several weeks ago, but over the past 5 years I worked closely with Tony to understand the inside story of the WW not-for- profit model compared to English companies. Having seen and being able to compare Tony was in no doubt that the superior model was WW. Having seen the evidence I 100% agree with Tony’s view.

A brief summary of why.

* Glas Cymru - single purpose company formed in 2001 to own, finance, and manage Welsh Water. A ‘company limited by guarantee’ and because it has no shareholders, any financial surpluses are retained for the benefit of Welsh Water’s customers.

* Annual financial surplus. Customer decides, do you want refund, or put into capital improvements investment? For past 20 plus years customer has said improvements. What don’t they have? Profits, dividends, and most importantly short-term owner/shareholder distractions.....the latter being the probable death knell for TW.

* Top credit rating in the industry

* Under Glas Cymru’s ownership, Welsh Water’s assets and capital investment are financed by bonds and retained financial surpluses. The Glas Cymru business model reduces Welsh Water’s asset financing cost, the water industry’s single biggest cost.

* As a result its financial gearing has been reduced from 93% to around 60% and reflected in improved credit ratings which as I said above are the strongest in the UK water sector.

* 70/80 'members' scattered across Wales - important scrutiny and governance role. Unpaid but in tune with local customer priorities/local feedback, not dictated by suits in Birmingham or London. NB non-execs in English water companies overwhelmingly regulatory, economic, finance backgrounds (little or no customer service) and geographically remote from regional wants/priorities/understanding.

* No surprise WW is close to top of the customer satisfaction water company league table and in 2023 was the first water company to be placed in the top 50 of a national survey on customer satisfaction carried out by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS).

* Top-rated Utility company in the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), beating the rest of the water and energy sector.

* Welsh Water first in the sector to achieve the BCS, Chartered Institute for IT, gold award for its commitment to developing and growing technology skills within the organisation (2024).