Water firms ‘failing to address customer concerns’

Water UK, the trade association for the water industry, said companies were working hard to provide drinking water that was “independently rated the joint-highest standard in the world”.

It said a rise in customer complaints should be examined, but that not all were necessarily evidence of poor service.

“A better measure is the number of complaints sent by the Consumer Council for Water to adjudication, which fell 63%, from 153 late last year to 57 for the equivalent period this year,” it said.

It added firms were also being affected by funding cuts from water regulator Ofwat, which needed to “enable companies to provide [customers] with the service they rightly expect”.

Water companies have put forward plans for bill increases, although Ofwat has made proposals to cap them. It is due to make a final decision in December.

Ofwat said it had also seen customer satisfaction fall across water companies.

A spokesperson said, while it was challenging companies to invest in their networks, this alone would not solve the problem.

“We have recently introduced a new customer focused licence condition, as well as new vulnerability guidance, to raise the levels of customer service to the standard we expect across the sector,” they added.