Complaints about water in England and Wales continue to fall

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/sep/17/complaints-about-water-england-and-wales-continue-fall

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Customer complaints to water companies have fallen for a seventh successive year but the gap between the industry’s best and worst performers remains unacceptable, the sector’s watchdog has warned.

Billing and charges remain by far the most common bugbear for customers in England and Wales accounting for almost 60% of written complaints, according to the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater).

Its annual Written Customer Complaints report (pdf) reveals a 13.4 % fall in written customer complaints to water companies in 2014-15, down from more than 123,000 to fewer than 107,000. Telephone complaints too have fallen broadly in line with written complaints.

Tony Smith, chief executive of CCWater, urged the worst performers to do more to get things “right first time”.

“We expect the water industry to continually try and improve its services to customers, and many water companies deserve credit for rising to that challenge year after year,” he said. “However, the gulf between the best and worst performers remains unacceptable.”

In December 2014 most water companies committed to reducing bills by 2020 after CCWater pressed the industry to listen to customers’ views on price and service.

But they still needed to work hard to convince more of their customers they were delivering value for money, Smith said.

Southern Water, which provides water and waste services for Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, was the worst-performing company for the third successive year, despite an almost 13% reduction in complaints over the past year.

Complaint levels for the group, which is owned by the Greensands international consortium including Australasian and Canadian pension funds, are more than twice the industry average at 70 complaints per 10,000 accounts.

South East Water was the only water-only company to receive more complaints than the industry average, but CCWater says it is encouraged to see such a large reduction in 2014-15.

Anglian Water, Affinity Water, Portsmouth Water and Hartlepool Water bucked the trend by reporting increases in complaints.

Wessex Water and Cambridge Water both reported further reductions in complaints to consolidate their places as the industry’s best performers, alongside Portsmouth Water.

CCWater is a non-departmental public body, sponsored by Defra and the the Welsh government, which was set up in 2005 and has overseen a 55% reduction in customer complaints since a peak in 2007-8.

A statement from Water UK on behalf of the industry said: “This report reinforces CCWater’s recent research which found that 94% of customers are satisfied with their water supply. Despite these encouraging results, water companies are committed to continuing to seek improvements and drive down complaints even further.”