Billing inaccuracies continue to dominate water retail complaints

Complaints to water retailers rose by five per cent over the 12 months to April 2021, while grievances escalated to the sector’s watchdog fell for the second year running, CCW’s latest report has shown.

Billing issues and charging concerns made up more than three-quarters of complaints, while poor customer service, inaccurate meter readings, lack of ownership in handling business customer complaints and delays in contacting retailers were also cited to CCW.

The report explored changes to complaints made directly to suppliers as well as those made to CCW about retailers between April 2020 and March 2021.

There were 2,848 complaints made to the watchdog over the year, which was a fall of 17 per cent compared to 2019-20, but higher than prior to the market opening in 2017.

“The retail water market promised to deliver better service standards for businesses but four years on and that is still not the experience for all customers,” said Emma Clancy, chief executive of CCW.

“About a third of business customers have told us they have been severely impacted by the pandemic and what they need are retailers and water companies that are actively seeking to help them – not making life even more difficult through inaccurate bills or unresponsive customer service.”

All but six complaints made directly to retailers were to medium and large providers, but overall seven of the twelve medium and large operators reduced or maintained their complaint rate.

Water2Business saw complaints fall by 62 per cent. It was praised by CCW for consistently low levels of complaints despite its large customer base.

First Business Water was another strong performer and will work with the watchdog to share examples of best practice in dealing with complaints to help drive improvements across the sector.

Wave piloted an internal escalation process during the year, which provided director oversight for escalated complaints that resulted in a fall in investigations raised against the company by CCW by almost three-quarters.

Water Plus and Castle Water were named as worst performers, with the report showing their figures “negatively skew complaints performance” in the market on both direct complaints and those made about them to CCW.

Business Stream, which saw a spike in complaints, took over Yorkshire’s non-household customers in October 2019. Its 2019-20 included six months of data from the merged providers but this year was fully merged, which CCW said may explain the rise in complaints.

CCW said communication with customers during the pandemic often fell short, with many customers being unaware of the support available, despite the “fairly strong” response by retailers, especially early in the lockdown.

Complaints to retailers and to CCW fell significantly over the initial lockdown period but increased as businesses began re-opening and restrictions eased from mid-June onwards.

Retailers reported that 15 per cent of complaints received were partially or fully caused by wholesalers, down from 22 per cent in 2019-20. Data from MOSL suggested that may be higher.

The annual performance review said the pandemic was likely to have contributed to the reduction in contact during the year, so it was too early to assess whether fewer complaints meant improved service.