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ALMOST half of the privatised water companies in England and Wales saw “alarming” increases in customer complaints last year, according to the government watchdog yesterday.
Billing and charges drew the most ire, accounting for over 60 per cent of all complaints to the companies in 2015-2016, the Consumer Council for Water found.
The CCW requested that four of the worst-performing companies — Southern Water, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, Bournemouth Water and Affinity Water — report back by the end of October to explain what they are doing to drive down complaints.
Watchdog chief executive Tony Smith said “substantial increases” in some companies’ complaint numbers were “particularly alarming.
For the fourth consecutive year, Southern Water was the worst-performing company, having seen a 10.3 per cent increase in complaints compared with 2014-2015.
CCW said Southern “has a lot of work to do to close that gap” between itself and other firms.
Written complaints to Dwr Cymru increased by a staggering 115.1 per cent, while Bournemouth Water and Affinity Water also reported increases of 90.6 per cent and 82.3 per cent.
