CCW has released its annual household complaint-handling report (pdf). The consumer body says households served by two of England’s water and wastewater companies are being let down by a failure to understand and deal with the causes of high levels of complaints from their customers.

Highlights include:

• 232,817 complaints were made to water companies in England and Wales by households in 2022/23 – first time CCW has been able to report on complaints across all forms of contact.
• Billing and charges (47%), water services (30%), and wastewater services (22%) were the main causes of complaint.
• Southern Water was the most complained-about company with Thames Water the only water and sewerage company to be rated as poor for complaint levels and complaint handling
• Watchdog CCW has seen a 29% rise in complaints made to it about water companies in the first quarter of the current year.
• Wessex Water was the best performing water and sewerage company, registering just 21.57 complaints per 10,000 connections, compared to Southern’s 227.52 per 10,000. Thames was second from bottom with 127.72.
• Of the water only companies, Portsmouth Water was the top performer with 22.62 and South East the worst with 57.19.

Read the CCW press release