Water problems
Speech to the Senedd on 24th April 2024 in response to the Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee report on the performance of Welsh Water I’m very pleased to see the scrutiny of the performance of Dŵr Cymru. There is lots of goodwill towards a company that it is, as it says, for Wales and not for profit. But I do think that at times that goodwill has constrained the scrutiny and challenge that all organisations need. As the regulator Ofwat said to the committee, the not-for-dividend model “shouldn't excuse poor performance and it shouldn't excuse inefficiency”. I couldn’t agree more. Without the pressure and scrutiny of shareholders there is a particular need to ensure there is robust questioning of the company’s performance. I am not convinced that the model of scrutiny of the so-called Members of Dwr Cymru has proven itself. And there are questions to be answered by OfWAT too. It seems to me that the different model in Wales has not had the bespoke engagem