Complaints about water companies hit 20 year high

The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) has reported a significant escalation in customer complaints, with figures reaching a 20-year high. 

CCW’s latest annual household complaints report reveals that complaints from household customers escalated to the watchdog increased by 84% in 2025-26, up to 15,115 from 8,235 in the previous year. It marks the steepest year-on-year rise in CCW’s 20-year history.

The overall number of complaints made by households directly to their water company also climbed by 56% to 321,347 in 2025-26 from 205,853 in 2024-25.

The sharp rise was primarily driven by growing concerns over bills, with complaints made to water companies about billing increasing by 72% and almost doubling (up 97%) among the cases brought to CCW. This came after households were confronted in April 2025 with the largest increase in water bills since privatisation, to help fund much-needed investment in services, infrastructure and environmental improvements.

Complaints to CCW about the scale of the bill increases rose by 54%, while concerns around affordability shot up by 129%.

The figures suggest many households were looking for ways to manage rising costs, with complaints to CCW from customers who were unable to have a water meter installed up by 464%. Complaints from people facing debt recovery action also increased by 49%.

CCW assesses each company’s performance on the number of complaints it receives for every 10,000 households it serves and the amount of effort customers have to put in to get their complaint resolved.

Thames Water and South West Water rated ‘poor’ for both performance measures, making them the worst performing companies.

Portsmouth Water and Bristol Water were the only companies to score ‘good’ in both metrics, retaining their position at the top of the rankings as the sector’s best performers.

Mike Keil, Chief Executive of CCW said “It’s deeply troubling to see such an unprecedented rise in complaints. These numbers reflect just how dissatisfied many people still are with the state of the water sector and the enormous task water companies face in rebuilding consumer trust.

“People have been hit with significant bill rises and are impatient to see the benefits where they live – whether that’s a more reliable service, cleaner rivers or effective and empathetic support when they are struggling to pay their bill. Companies need to be clear and open with their customers about how they are investing people’s money to deliver real improvements.”