A Powys woman has slammed Hafren Dyfrdwy after a “ridiculous” 42 per cent rise in her water bills.

Julie Oldham from Berriew has hit out at the water company after a huge rise in her bills for the second year in a row.

“We first moved here in 2021. The water bill went up 30 per cent last year and it has gone up another 42 per cent this year,” said Julie.

Julie said she was shocked by having a second large rise in her bills and contacted the company to query the large rise.

“I sent them an email and the response was just ridiculous,” said Julie. “Just saying it hadn’t been put up in however long and now was the time for it to go up.

“They sent me an email saying things are going up you know it has gone up by 42 per cent and everyone else has gone up the same.”

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This is despite the company saying that bills were expected to rise by around 19 per cent, under half the rise that Julie has been asked to pay.

“I rang them and said anyone who is on sewage and water their bills have gone up by around 19 per cent so I asked why have we gone up 42 per cent,” said Julie.

“The man I talked to said ‘well if you divide it over the year it is only something like 60 pence a day’ -  I told him he was missing the point.”

“Then he said everyone is putting things up electricity mortgages.  I said mortgages have not gone up by 42 per cent other wise everybody would be on the street.

“I was then told I could use as much water as I wanted yet at the same time they’re telling us to save water.”

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Julie then said a number of excuses were made by the person on the other end without ever explaining the rise.

“They argued it was based on the property,” said Julie “I don’t think my house price has gone up by 42 per cent.”

“They then said 'well we didn’t put it up during Covid', I then said if you’re not going to help me you are just wasting my time.”

Julie was also told that she could expect her bills  told me it would go up a similar amount next year and said she is concerned others are being asked to pay for an unreasonable rise.

In response to an enquiry by the County Times, Louise Moir, Hafren Dyfrdwy Customer Experience Lead, said: “We’re fully committed to keeping bills low and affordable, so understand that any increase can be concerning.

“We don’t want anyone worrying about how they pay their bill so have a range of support available including our Here2Help scheme, where customers could receive up to 70% off their household bill, that we’d be happy to discuss with Ms Oldham.

“During the past few years, we’ve kept our bills as low and they remain the lowest in Wales, but like many businesses we’re seeing rising costs as well as making increased investment to help secure water supplies for future generations.”