Complaints to the water watchdog have hit their highest level in nearly a decade, as customers reel from the biggest rise in water bills since privatisation.
New data from the Consumer Council for Water (CCW) shows 8,235 complaints were escalated in 2024-25 — up 3% on the previous year and the highest since 2015-16.
That’s despite a fall in overall complaints to water companies, down 8% to 205,853. But CCW says the drop in direct complaints doesn’t reflect the growing frustration among households, especially around billing.
Issues with bills dominated, making up 63% of complaints to water firms and 66% of those escalated to the watchdog. Complaints about the size of increases surged by more than double – while the number of people saying they couldn’t afford higher charges rose by nearly 40%.
The spike follows the steepest single-year price hike since the industry was privatised, with average water and sewerage bills rising from under £500 to more than £600 a year.
Smart meter complaints also jumped by half, while complaints about environmental issues dropped but still remained well above historic levels. Anger continues over storm overflows and pollution.
CCW named Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and South West Water as the worst-performing water and sewerage companies.
Among water-only suppliers, SES Water and Affinity Water recorded the highest complaint volumes and weakest complaint handling.
At the other end, Wessex Water, Portsmouth Water and Bristol Water were the only firms to receive top ratings for both complaint levels and how well they handled them.
CCW chief executive Mike Keil said: “Although it’s encouraging to see complaints to water companies falling, more households are turning to CCW for help than at any point in the last nine years.
“Bills remain the top concern for households, and we can see April’s unprecedented price rises are already hurting a lot of people. If people are paying more for their water, they need to see real improvements in the services they receive.”
CCW said it is continuing to work with the sector to tackle underlying issues and share best practice on complaint handling.
The watchdog’s assessments are based on complaint volumes per 10,000 households and how effectively issues are resolved.
Water complaints at record level appeared first on Energy Live News.