Assurances to Hafren Dyfrdwy customers of “no changes to the prices they pay” – residents argue they’ve seen increase in their direct debits

Customers across Wrexham have been reassured that there have been no changes to their water bills- this is despite a number of residents saying there has been an “unexpected rise” to their direct debits.

At the end of July Wrexham.com received an email from one resident who stated that he’d had an rise in his direct debit with Hafren Dyfrdwy, with his cost going from £32pm to £92 for ‘no explicable reason’.

We posed a question to our Twitter followers asking if they had experienced a similar rise, with a number of people getting in touch to say that their direct debits have also increased.

£22pm to £49pm… 😡😡😡

— Charlotte Williams (@charlotte_will_) July 27, 2018

Yes rang them and they arranged refunded over charge and reset DD to original level…… although the refund has not materialised yet

— Daryl Stephenson (@DarylFronMVC) July 27, 2018

Yes £25 to £37 absolutely disgusting and there’s nothing we can do….

— Welshybird82 (@Welshybird82) July 27, 2018

Mine shot up so I cancelled DD online with my bank and will be paying them monthly myself from now on!

— Paula Merry 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (@PaulaMerryY5) July 27, 2018

Mine is £70 a month from £50 .. I rang and they’ve reduced it but god knows how on the basis of a phone call and when I’m on a meter .. apparently I’m a heavy water user .. as I use the washing machine three times a week??!!

— Stephanie May (@stephzmay) July 28, 2018

£63 to £98!!!!!

— Leigh Evans (@Generalleigh79) July 28, 2018

Others however said there had been no change or that their bill had gone down:

mine has gone down by £13 a month

— David Hayes (@David4905) July 28, 2018

Same as before £40.49

— Mark Jervis (@MjJervis) July 27, 2018

Customers in Wrexham had previously been served by Dee Valley Water. However in spring 2017 Wrexham.com reported that despite some opposition, the company was taken over by Severn Trent.

In May 2018 it was announced that from the start of July the company would be bringing together all its Welsh customers previously served by Severn Trent and by Dee Valley into a single company called Hafren Dyfrdwy.

We contacted Hafren Dyfrdwy to ask if clients had been informed if their direct debits are due to increase, and if there is an issue is it possible to get details of the appeal / resolution system.

We also asked for information on how common an increase will be for former Dee Valley customers and how many people will be seeing a rise.

A spokesperson for Hafren Dyfrdwy told us: “Customers who are now served by Hafren Dyfrdwy have had no changes to the prices they pay, but we do regularly review payment plans to help support our customers.

“This means payment plans may go up, as well as down depending on whether their account is on credit or debit, and it helps by spreading the cost throughout the year to avoid customers having to pay a one-off final bill.”

We were also sent the bullet points listed below:

· Customers have individual circumstances in which their payment plans may change

· There’s an FAQ page on here.

· Prices have not changed when Dee Valley became Hafren Dyfrdwy

· If a customer is in financial hardship, our vulnerable customer programmes offer them money off their bills each month

Have you seen an increase in your direct debit to Hafren Dyfrdwy? If so email us at [email protected] or tweet @wrexham!