Water companies’ failure to deal with customers’ concerns about environmental performance and water meters has fuelled a steep rise in complaints to the consumer watchdog.
The CCW saw the number of complaints that had to be escalated to it by household customers in England and Wales rise by almost a third (29%) in 2023/24 – reaching its highest level for nearly a decade.
The CCW said these disputes are “frustrating and time-consuming” for customers, who have already had to exhaust their water company’s two-stage complaints process.
The CCW’s annual household customer complaint-handling report shows that customers made a total of 222,956 complaints directly to water companies in England and Wales in 2023/24.
More than half (57%) of these related to issues with billing, including disputes around how much people were being charged, methods of payment and difficulties with the affordability of bills.
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Trust in water sector is ‘already badly fractured’
Within the 7,977 complaints received by the CCW, issues relating to water meters rose by 30%, including concerns over how often they were being read and whether they were working properly.
There was also a significant rise in complaints to the CCW about environmental issues, up by 217% over the past 12 months. These mainly related to spills from storm overflows and wider pollution of rivers and seas.
Dr Mike Keil, the CCW’s chief executive, said: “Households are having to waste far too much time and energy resolving complaints, which water companies should be getting right first time. Trust in the water sector is already badly fractured and the poor handling of complaints will only compound people’s frustration.
“We’re particularly concerned to see a significant rise in complaints from customers with water meters who are questioning the accuracy of their bill. More companies are planning to roll out smart meters over the next few years, so they must listen and act on people’s concerns now or risk further damaging customer trust.”
The CCW compares the performance of water companies on the number of complaints they received per 10,000 household connections, as well as assessing how well these were handled.
Thames Water and Yorkshire Water were the only two water and wastewater companies to be rated “poor” on both performance measures.
Thames Water was the worst performer overall, with customers making more complaints directly to the company – as well as to the CCW – than any other supplier. Yorkshire Water also performed poorly, with the number of complaints coming to the CCW about the company rising by 90%.
Among the companies that just provide water services, Cambridge Water was the only supplier to be rated as “poor” on both measures. There was a 77% rise in the number of complaints about the company brought to the CCW, with most of these disputes relating to bills from metered households.
The CCW has applauded the service provided by Wessex Water and Portsmouth Water, the only two companies to receive top marks on both measures of performance.
Related: Thames Water customers could see bills rise by over £200 a year
