Decline in business complaints about retailers continues to 18-month low

CCW reported last week that the number of complaints it received about business retailers had fallen again, for the third successive quarter, and reached the lowest level for a year and a half.

There were 812 complaints to the watchdog from business customers between October and December 2019, down from 835 in Q2. Billing and charges complaints accounted for 657 of them, with around half that number (323) relating to challenges on measured bills.

CCW said the poor performance of a small number of retailers is largely to blame for complaints still being four times higher than before market opening. It said Clear Business Water was the worst performer on the basis of complaints per 10,000 supply points, followed by Water Plus which “accounted for about 45% of non-household complaints”. Castle Water slipped into the bottom three despite a 13% reduction in complaints.

Water2Business and Business Steam retained their places among the least complained about retailers, with Pennon Water Services joining them in the top three performers for the first time.