Satisfaction with water tumbles below energy for the first time in the UKCSI

Average customer satisfaction with water companies fell below that for energy companies in the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) for the first time ever.

Water’s July 2024 score was 69.5 out of 100, a drop of 3.1 points compared to July 2023. Energy’s July 2024 score was a fraction higher at 69.8, up 1.9 points compared to last year.

The UKCSI score is based on how customers rate organisations across 26 measures which are summarised in five dimensions of customer satisfaction. According to the report, for the water companies: “Compared to a year ago, the Complaint Handling dimension has dropped by 9.9 points to 55.6, although the number of customers experiencing a problem with a water company fell by 8.9 percentage points to 13.1%. Customer satisfaction in each of the Customer Ethos, Emotional Connection and Ethics dimensions has declined by at least 4 points compared to a year ago. Ten of the 17 water companies that appear in the UKCSI have an overall satisfaction index score that is at least 3 points lower than in July 2023.”

The utility sector’s score (comprising both energy and water companies) was 69.8, up 0.3% on the July 2023 score of 69.5. While the sector remained bottom of the table, it was the only one of the 13 in the index to increase at all.

The July 2024 UKCSI all-sector score was 75.8, a slight drop of 0.8 points compared to July 2023. This is relevant because Ofwat plans calculate water company C-MeX rewards and penalties in AMP8 according to distance from a benchmark based on the UKCSI all sector average, and a top and bottom benchmark, based on the UKCSI all-sector upper quartile and the UKCSI minimum, respectively.

Non-food retail was the highest scoring sector, at 80.4. Timpson (86.0), Nationwide (85.2) and John Lewis (85.0) were the highest rated organisations. There were no utilities in the top 50.

Elsewhere, the Institute for Customer Service, which runs the UKCSI, highlighted: 

• 45% of customers say that whether or not an organisation does the right thing, in its business practices or its impact on society, has influenced their satisfaction.

• 62% of customers believe that bad practices or behaviour by a company will damage its long-term reputation and that an entire sector can be tarnished by the actions of one or a small number of companies.

• 56% of customers say their satisfaction with an organisation has been influenced by whether they felt it understood and cared for their personal situation and needs.