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Water companies received almost 17,700 written complaints about wastewater in the 12 months to the end of March – a 25% increase when compared to the year before – according to the latest figures from CCW.
However, the overall number of complaints to water companies remained broadly level at around 93,700, whilst the number complaints escalated or sent directly to CCW waterdog fell by 13% year-on-year to around 6,100.
Complaints to water companies about billing issues, including disputes over water usage, estimated bills and debt recovery, fell by 9% to 53,700, and the number received by CCW dropped by 15% to roughly 2,900. Nevertheless, billing issues still accounted for a clear majority of total complaints to water companies (61%) followed by issues with water (20%) and then wastewater (19%).
Echoing the findings of its annual customer survey that showed a fall in satisfaction with sewerage services, CCW said the increase in wastewater complaints was “likely due to heightened awareness of sewage discharges into rivers and coastal waters”.
United Utilities bucked that trend through greater focus on reducing repeat sewer flooding and blockages that resulted in a 25% reduction in wastewater complaints to the company.
The number of wastewater complaints received by CCW dropped by 14% to less than 800, which the watchdog said reflected the fact that many grievances did not relate to a specific customer issue.
The overall number of complaints escalated or sent to CCW was the lowest in a decade, which the watchdog said suggested companies are now resolving more issues to the satisfaction of customers without needing to seek help.
Most companies lowered the number of complaints they received per connection, with 12 of them achieving year-on-year reductions of more than 10%.
Among water and sewerage companies, Wessex saw the biggest reduction (32%) and also had the lowest rate of complaints (9.6 per 10,000 connections). Southern saw the largest increase (56%) although Thames had the worst rate of complaints (68.1 per 10,000 connections). Northumbrian was the only one to be rated “good” for its handling of complaints. Southern, Thames and Yorkshire were all rated “poor”.
Among water-only companies, Bristol achieved the largest decrease (36%) but Portsmouth had the lowest complaints rate (9.4 per 10,000 connections). Anglian was the only water-only company to see an increase (14%) and Essex & Suffolk had the highest rate (36.6 per 10,000 connections). None were rated “good” for their complaints handling and SES and South East were both rated “poor”.
The median rate of complaints per 10,000 connections was 17.5 for water and sewerage companies and 12.8 for water-only companies.
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