Business retail complaints fuel “hopes of sustained improvement”

The Consumer Council for Water has “hopes of a sustained improvement” in the level of business customer complaints about water retailers, after its second-quarter 2019/20 figures revealed a fall in gripes for the second successive quarter.

The watchdog received 835 complaints from business customers between 1 July and the end of September 2019 – the lowest number it has handled in a single quarter since the start of 2018/19. This was down from 931 in Q1 2019/20 and 1110 in Q2 2018/19. Billing and charges continued to account for the lion’s share of complaints (635), followed by administration issues (106).

The top performers from Q1 – Water2Business, Yorkshire Water Business and Affinity for Business – retained their places in the top three least complained about retailers in Q2. Meanwhile at the bottom of the table SES Business Water and Clear Business Water were re-joined by Water Plus which slipped back into the bottom three “having failed to build on the 16% reduction seen in the previous quarter”.

CC Water noted that non-household complaints remain almost four times higher than before the market opened in April 2017.

Adam Boyns, policy manager, said: “It is too early say that the market has turned a corner but we’re encouraged to see many retailers are heading in the right direction – that needs to be sustained.”