Most SWW complaints are about bills, watchdog says

SWW said it was "striving to improve" the service it provided to customers

South West Water (SWW) is "worse than average" at handling complaints, and most of the complaints the firm receives are about bills, a watchdog has found.

The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) said the firm had about 76 complaints per 10,000 connections in 2022-23.

It said it is the first time the council has reported on all complaints water companies receive.

SWW said it received an increase in complaints following the introduction of a hosepipe ban in August 2022.

However, it said it was ahead of its target for resolving customer complaints.

The council said most complaints to SWW related to billing and charges - mirroring a trend among the 11 water companies in England and Wales.

Out of 7,725 complaints SWW received, it said 4,344 were about bills (56.2%), 2,419 (31.3%) related to water supply and 962 (12.5%) were about waste water.

The council receives overall figures on the level of complaints, but it does not receive data on the specific nature of complaints, such as those relating to storm overflows.

It rated water companies on the volume of complaints received per 10,000 connections and how well the complaints were handled.

SWW received the fourth-highest total number of complaints, per 10,000 connections, out of the 11 water companies.

Southern Water and Thames Water received the most complaints.

Steve Hayfield, SWW's customer experience and delivery director, said the firm was "constantly striving to improve the service we provide".

He said: "Our teams work tirelessly to achieve this and when things do go wrong we work hard to put them right as quickly as possible, which is why we are ahead of our target for the time it takes to resolve customer complaints.

“Last year we saw an increase in the contacts we received following the introduction of a hosepipe ban in our region for the first time in over 25 years, which has now been lifted.

"With our drive to improve our core service we are confident our position in the industry will continue to improve.”