Business water complaints fall to pre-market opening levels

Complaints about water retailers have fallen to their lowest level since the market opened in 2017, but progress is not being made by all suppliers, CCW has said.

Fewer than half of water retailers saw a reduction in complaints from their customers, the water watchdog’s annual report on non-household complaints showed.

Overall, the number of complaints that were escalated to CCW fell by 16% in 2022/23 from 14,694 to 12,312.

One third of the complaints were about wholesaler issues, highlighting the role water companies must play.

The report highlighted that while some providers are making progress to reduce complaints, performance remains uneven across the market.

CCW called on Water Plus, SES Business and Castle Water to address underlying causes of dissatisfaction.

This is the first time since customers have had the choice to change water supplier that complaints have been at this level but CCW said it took far too long to get there.

CCW’s review of business customers’ experiences with the water retail market called on retailers to resolve complaints quickly, effectively and transparently for all customers. Involving the watchdog to resolve disputes indicates this has not happened.

Emma Clancy, chief executive of CCW, said: “It is clear that wholesalers also need to improve their services to business customers and work better with retailers to resolve complaints. Wholesalers play a role in helping to deliver accurate customer bills, so we are asking for them to increase the use of smart meters, to assist in bringing down the number of billing and charging disputes.”

Issues with administration and billing dominated the causes of complaints from customers – with these making up 87% of all complaints. Concerns about water accounted for 11% and wastewater 2%.

Andy Hughes, the CEO of water retailer Water Plus, said: “We are glad the number of complaints we’ve received – and published by CCW this week – have decreased and we’re continuing to see significant progress on this for the second year in a row, following work by our teams with customers, along with our focus on listening to feedback and using insights.

“While we continue to be disappointed with the number of complaints, we’ve fundamentally changed our approach to service – and we’re seeing a strong downward trajectory in complaints, already 32% lower than last year, since CCW’s figures were collected.”