Costs and bills drive complaints through the roof

(by Karma Loveday)

The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) reported the largest ever year-on-year increase in customer complaints, against the backdrop of steep bill rises.

Household complaints to water companies climbed by 56% to 321,347 in 2025-26 from 205,853 in 2024-25. Complaints escalated to CCW surged by 84% in 2025-26, up to 15,115 from 8,235 in the previous year.

The watchdog said the sharp rise was primarily linked to costs and bills: complaints to water firms about billing were up 72% and to CCW by 97%; those to CCW about the scale of bill increases were up 54%; and about affordability by 129%. Relatedly, complaints from those unable to have a water meter installed to help manage costs spiralled up by 464%, while complaints from those facing debt recovery action increased by 49%.

There were clear differences in individual company performance, assessed on the number of complaints received per 10,000 connections and on the amount of effort customers had to make to ensure a complaint is resolved. Portsmouth Water was the best performer, followed by Bristol Water – both scoring highly against both measures. Among the water and sewerage companies, Wessex was the only high performer on complaint effort, while Hafren Dyfrdwy, Northumbrian and Severn Trent did well on numbers.

The poorest performer was Thames Water followed by South West Water, both of which rated ‘poor’ against both measures.