WELSH Water has marked 20 years as a not-for-profit organisation by donating £100,000 to foodbanks across Wales.

Welsh Water is owned by Glas Cymru and has been since 2001. Originally Glas Cymru was formed as a single purpose company to own, manage and finance Welsh Water and since 2001 has acquired the business and financed it entirely by bond funding.

As well as donating £100,000 to 100 foodbanks across Wales. It is also creating a £10,000 mini-fund for the week, where not-for-profit community organisations and groups can apply for funding to support local causes. Schools can also apply for a special science kit to help support pupils.

Welsh Water chief executive, Peter Perry, said: “In the 20 years since Glas Cymru acquired Welsh Water and pioneered a not-for-profit ownership model in the water sector, it has proved its worth, delivering financing efficiency and building customer trust by enabling colleagues to focus on delivering our core services as well as applying over £440m to the benefit of customers.

“Today is as much about our customers and the communities we serve as it is about our company, which is why we have decided to continue to support the foodbanks that are tackling soaring demand for their services in the face of the pandemic and wider need.

“We are focused on the long-term and have ambitious plans for the years ahead. With the wellbeing of future generations as paramount, the Glas model will evolve to meet new challenges and circumstances, keeping pace with societal issues and growing customer concern about climate change and their desire to invest for the long term.”

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Glas Cymru chairman, Alastair Lyons CBE, said: “As a Board, we are proud of what we have achieved over the 20 years thanks to our not for shareholder business model.

"Whilst there is much to celebrate about the past, there is also much to look forward to, and plan for, in the future.

"Long term asset resilience, increased environmental ambition, and value for money plans for our customers alongside a more personalised service are just some of what Welsh Water is investing in for the long-term.”

For the past 20 years, Welsh Water has returned the £440m - which would have been distributed to shareholders if their business model was the same as other companies - to the company itself to benefit customers. This has allowed the company to:

• Keep bill increases below the RPI rate of inflation since 2010;

• Provide industry-leading support to more than 140,000 of its most vulnerable customers;

• Invest more than £1bn in wastewater systems to help drive up bathing water quality. This has seen Wales have a third of the UK’s total number of Blue Flag beaches - even though only 15 per cent of the coastline is in Wales.

• Deliver education outreach programmes which have involved more than 600,000 pupils.

The company has also increased support for customers as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. They have arranged flexible payment plans for household customers struggling to pay their water bills.

There are also a further 330,000 customers added to the Welsh Water priority services register and has suspended bills for 45,000 business customers who were forced to close during the first lockdown.

They have also previously made a donation to each foodbank in Wales to help with the fight against poverty.