Photo credit: Zoe Richardson
Business customers in England and Wales have been forced to escalate a third more complaints about their water retailers than a year earlier, according to the Consumer Council for Water’s 2025-26 Business Customer Complaints reportpublished on 21 July. The number of disputes reaching CCW rose from 1,966 to 2,562 over the year, undoing the 14% fall recorded the previous year. Complaints made directly to retailers were largely flat at 20,139, but 15% more of them progressed to the second stage of retailer complaints processes, suggesting that first-time resolution has weakened even where overall volumes have not moved.
Billing is where the market is failing
Billing accounted for 90% of the cases escalated to CCW and 48% of those made directly to retailers, with measured billing (where charges are based on metered consumption) driving 54% of all billing complaints reaching the watchdog. CCW argues that improving the accuracy and clarity of bills will be central to bringing complaints down. It points to the planned rollout of around 800,000 smart water meters for business customers over the next five years as a potential turning point, provided retailers communicate the change well. Its own research earlier this year found retailers were not doing enough to explain smart meter installations to businesses, raising the prospect of the technology becoming a new source of complaint.
Uneven performance across retailers
CCW ranked ADSM, Water2Business, Source for Business and Hafren Dyfrdwy highest in this year’s assessment, while SES Business Water, Clear Business Water, Castle Water and Water Plus scored lowest. Mike Keil, CCW’s chief executive, said business customers should not have to exhaust the complaints process to get disputes resolved and that the gap between the strongest and weakest performers needed to close. He said CCW would continue to work with retailers on complaint handling and use company assessments to push service levels up.
Debt is the fastest-rising issue
Complaints to CCW about debt rose by 131% over the year as businesses continued to face higher water bills, a jump the watchdog attributes to broader financial pressures on smaller firms. CCW is calling on retailers to strengthen the support they offer customers struggling to pay, and the report will feed into the watchdog’s wider five-year review of the water retail open market, which is examining whether the arrangements introduced in 2017 are delivering for non-household customers.
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