The Consumer Council for Water’s (CCW) fourth Testing the Waters report, which looks at how business customers in England and Wales feel about the water, sewerage and retail services they receive, is published.

The research, conducted every two years, shows that overall satisfaction has declined for both water and sewerage services – from 91% to 88% and from 88% to 82% respectively. Although satisfaction with water retail services – including billing, meter reading and customer service – has remained the same, at 70%, it is a long way from the target of 85% by 2027 set by CCW.

Perceptions of value for money have fallen too, with 68% of all businesses surveyed saying they are satisfied with the value for money they receive, compared to 74% in the previous survey. In addition, fewer businesses believe their water and retail providers care about the service they give to customers.

Businesses in Wales – where the vast majority of customers are not able to switch supplier – are much more satisfied with their services than their English counterparts, with satisfaction rates of 92% for water and 88% for sewerage services, while retail satisfaction in Wales is already at 85%.

Water bills are one of the biggest sources of dissatisfaction. Too many companies are still having to contact their retailer about billing issues. This is also reflected in CCW’s annual business customer complaints report for 2021/22.

The full story from CCW can be read here.