The Consumer Council for Water has today published a report on the complaints made to water companies in England and Wales by households in 2022-23 and several media outlets including the Independent, Mirror, Sun, Telegraph and Guardian have covered it.

The report highlights how some water and wastewater companies are failing to do deal with the causes of high levels of complaints from their customers. 232,817 complaints in 2022/23 were made to water companies covering billing and charges (47%), water services (30%), and wastewater services (22%).

Water Minister Rebecca Pow said:

This level of complaints is yet another measure of how the water sector needs to step up and deliver for its customers.

The Government’s Plan for Water sets out how more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement will transform the current system and, to ensure we see the improvements required, I will be meeting with poor performing water companies in person to scrutinise their plans.

Water company performance has been covered in the media on a number of occasions recently. In response to the recent Ofwat performance report, the Environment Secretary said the fact that not a single water company is classified as ‘leading’ is “unacceptable”.

This week, water company business plans have also been published for the next five-year period between 2025 and 2030 with the Environment Secretary commenting that “major improvements are needed to deliver clean and plentiful water now, and in the future”.