Billing ‘Top Complaint’ For Water Companies
While there’s a lot to be concerned about regarding water company conduct, everything from water mismanagement and underinvestment in essential infrastructure to illegal sewage discharges into rivers, lakes and streams, the most common cause of complaint from customers has been revealed as billing issues.
Recent research from the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), published in October last year, showed that complaints about firms that were escalated to the organisation climbed by 29 per cent between 2023 and 2024, driven largely by concerns relating to metered bills and environmental performance.
Billing disputes were the biggest cause of complaint, but those pertaining to the environment, including the impact of storm overflow spillages, rose by 217 per cent over the course of the year.
Prompted by this CCW study, industry regulator Ofwat led its own research into the matter to better understand customer experiences and identify potential learning opportunities.
It was found that billing issues are highly varied, ranging from simple admin problems to more complicated scenarios, which naturally means that customer impact is also significantly varied.
Billing issues include the likes of account errors, incorrect or disputed meter readings, over-billing, receiving estimated bills, increased bills because of water leaks, disagreements over how debts are recovered, issues with how bills are paid and issues with trying to apply for discounted bills.
Although there is some evidence that customers have had positive experiences relating to billing, there are many yet who remain dissatisfied, with negative experiences representing a substantial number of people.
For these customers, billing impacts are substantial, having an effect on household finances and mental wellbeing. Bills of thousands of pounds have been seen, leaving people facing debt and long-term financial impacts, such as credit rating problems.
Emotionally, people can be left having to seek professional help because bill issues can exacerbate pre-existing mental health conditions.
The study also found that, while customers would expect billing issue resolutions to be straightforward, the reality is that many people find the journey complicated, spending longer than anticipated on communication and action before final outcomes are reached.
The conclusion was drawn that although there is room for improvement across all stages of the customer journey where billing is concerned, improving communication would likely have the biggest impact, with a key role to play in improving overall levels of customer satisfaction.
Steps recommended by Ofwat to help water companies improve communications include:
– Providing clear timeframes on when to expect responses
– Delivering quicker action on urgent issues
– Customer agents showing compassion
– Addressing the knock-on effects of billing issues
– Clarity on where to go to escalate complaints
The second stage of the Ofwat study will look at how billing issues impact vulnerable customers who may need greater levels of support from their supplier, as well as investigating what happens when customers move into the complaint stage and how these are escalated to others.
Unhappy with your billing? Switch water supplier!
The good news for businesses that are unhappy with their water supplier’s billing practices is that they’re now able to switch to a different provider, ensuring that they can enjoy better customer service elsewhere.
The English water retail market opened up back in April 2017, bringing it in line with that of Scotland, allowing businesses to choose their own supplier for the first time.
There are many benefits associated with switching, particularly if you’re a heavy water user or operate multiple sites across the country, including:
– Achieving cost savings through better tariffs with a different retailer
– Better customer service and more timely responses to enquiries
– More accurate billing
– Working with a supplier that has specific experience and expertise in working with organisations in your sector
– Value-added services, alongside core water supply and wastewater services
– Bill consolidation across multiple sites
One of the biggest benefits of switching is, of course, the cost savings you could potentially achieve and it’s possible that you could reduce your water bills by between ten and 18 per cent.
Switching can be tricky if you’ve never done it before, however, and the newly deregulated market has water retailers entering it all the time, which can make it hard to see which would serve your business interests most effectively.
However, we can help you throughout the process, with our unique platform supporting you in managing your property portfolio and making the tendering process a lot easier to achieve. If you’d like to find out more, get in touch with the Switch Water Supplier team today.