Business complaints fall to the lowest since 2017, but retailer performance very mixed

Water Plus and SES Business Water remained the most complained about retailers as CCW published its annual report on non-household market complaints for 2022-23. Notably though, Water Plus’ performance improved significantly (written complaints fell 19% on the previous year) whereas SESBW’s deteriorated (it registered a 19% increase). Castle Water was the third lowest performer in the table.

At the other end of the spectrum, Business Stream closely followed by Water2Business put in the best performance among the large national players, both also securing major reductions year on year (67% and 25% respectively). Water2Business outperformed on complaints to CCW as well. Factoring in the smaller or regional players, ADSM was the best performer overall, registering no complaints at all, with First Business Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy also securing good results.

Overall, CCW reported written complaints fell by 16% to 12,312 in 2022-23 – their lowest level since 2016/17, and approached levels seen prior to market opening. 44% were about administration and 43% about bills. Complaints escalated to CCW fell by 3% to 2,233. The watchdog noted that this meant its target of a 10% reduction in complaints to CCW was not met, and the number remains 2.5 times higher than it was before the market opened. The main reasons for discontent remained largely unchanged, with billing and charging behind 71% of complaints made to CCW.

The watchdog welcomed the improvements, but observed: “It has taken too long to get to this stage, and progress is diluted by widely differing performance between larger retailers."

Andy Hughes, chief executive of Water Plus, said: “We are glad the number of complaints we’ve received – and published by CCW this week – have decreased and we’re continuing to see significant progress on this for the second year in a row, following work by our teams with customers, along with our focus on listening to feedback and using insights. While we continue to be disappointed with the number of complaints, we’ve fundamentally changed our approach to service – and we’re seeing a strong downward trajectory in complaints, already 32% lower than last year, since CCW’s figures were collected.”