Wednesday 20 September 2017

Water customer complaints topped 2m last year

Water customers had to make more than two million calls to suppliers last year to get problems with their service sorted out.

That's according to new figures from the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater), which shows this is an increase of more than 40,000 calls from the year before.

The statistics also show 12 of the 21 water companies in England and Wales saw an 11% reduction in the number of written complaints, down from around 107,000 to just above 95,000.

Billing and charging issues accounted for 57% of customers’ written complaints, ahead of concerns about water supplies (17%) and sewage problems (12%).

Cambridge Water reported the largest rise in written complaints, jumping up nearly 250%, with unwanted contacts also increasing in excess of 37%.

The company must now report back to the water watchdog by the end of next month to outline what steps it is taking to resolve these issues.

Tony Smith, Chief Executive of CCWater, said: "The service customers receive from their water company has generally improved over the past decade but that progress appears to have stalled.

"Water companies received more than two million contacts from customers last year to resolve issues which they should get right first time."