Sky-high bills were among the public’s biggest concerns with Britain’s privatised water industry, a consumer watchdog revealed in its annual report yesterday.

Written complaints to the cartel of industry privateers hit 123,218 in the year to March, down on the previous 12 months but still 300 a day, according to research by the soft-edged Consumer Council for Water (CWW).

But the council highlighted the cost of bills as one of the biggest concerns, with 20 per cent of water users branding prices “unaffordable.”