Complaints about water bills highest in ten years

High charges and problems with bills are the greatest source of gripes across all firms.

Customers in England and Wales lodged 13,603 complaints with the Consumer Council for Water in the 12 months to March 31 - up 10 per cent on the previous year.

That figure is the highest since 1994 - five years after water firms were privatised.

In addition, householders and businesses made 44,503 inquiries to CCWater - up 20 per cent year-on-year.

A surge in complaints to four water companies - mainly about billing glitches - was behind the overall annual complaints increase.

These companies are: Severn Trent Water, South East Water, Southern Water and United Utilities. Complaints about other water and sewerage firms in England and Wales remained stable or fell slightly.

Nearly half (49 per cent) of all complaints made to CCWater were about either billing or charges.

Complaints about Severn Trent rose to 2,652 in the year to March 31 - an annual rise of 36 per cent.

This compared to United Utilities which rose 19 per cent to 2,325; Southern Water saw complaints increase by 52 per cent to 777; and South East Water rose 74 per cent to 441.

CCWater chair Dame Yve Buckland said it was "disappointing" that billing systems were causing so many problems. Some customers had even been unable to reach their supplier's staff by phone to complain.

"We have a right as consumers to expect high quality customer service - even though water companies are monopolies and therefore most consumers have absolutely no choice over their supplier," she said.

Dame Yve called for the regulatory system to contain more "levers and incentives" to make water companies more innovative.

Complaints to South West Water fell by 15 per cent to 789. But that figure was still the highest as a proportion of customer base than for any other water company in England and Wales.

Thames Water saw a 9 per cent drop in complaints to 2,562 while complaints about Bristol Water dropped 35 per cent to 115.

CCWater, formerly Water Voice, is the statutory water consumer body which represents customers in England and Wales. It has collected customer complaints data since 1991.

Water UK which represents the suppliers said the industry realised customer service could be improved.

It said customers were nearly always affected by new billing systems.

Chief executive Pamela Taylor said: "Customers are at the heart of our business and the water industry is committed to getting billing and charges right.

"It is good news that customers who are now significantly more inclined to get in touch with CCWater, have increased their complaints at only half the rate at which their contacts have increased."

• These are the water companies which prompted the highest volume of complaints to CCWater during 2006-07 as a proportion of their customer base. Complaints are shown as a rate per 10,000 customers for each firm.

• South West - 10.4

• South East - 7.3

• United Utilities - 7.2

• Severn Trent - 6.4

• Thames Water - 4.5

• Southern - 4.0

• Dwr Cymru - 4.0

• Anglian - 3.8

• Three Valleys - 3.6

• Tendring Hundred - 3.5

• Bournemouth & W.Hampshire - 3.5

• Northumbrian - 3.1