Dwr Cymru Welsh Water: Customer complaints halved

Dwr Cymru Welsh Water received 58% fewer customer complaints last year, said the report

Dwr Cymru Welsh Water saw its customer complaints drop by more than half last year, making it the most improved UK water company, a report says.

The company received 58% fewer customer complaints, a drop of almost 6,400 on the previous year, the report by Consumer Council for Water (CCW) found.

Across the UK customer complaints in the water industry dropped by almost 12%, to their lowest level since 2005.

The CCW said companies "must not rest on their laurels".

Its annual report shows 163,027 written complaints were made to water companies across England and Wales.

This compared with 185,140 the previous year.

Helen Smith, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water's communications manager, said the report showed "excellent progress" and the company was determined to maintain the trend.

"The reduction is the result of a strong focus on issues that matter most to customers and a determination to get matters right first time," said Ms Smith.

Customer satisfaction

She said the company had brought in several new initiatives.

These included reading meters more frequently, texting customers to update them with incidents and burst water mains, and reducing the time taken to carry out improvements and repairs.

"We've also increased the number of ways customers can contact us and extended our opening hours."

CCW said it had pressured companies to work hard to improve their services and increase customer satisfaction.

But Tony Smith, its chief executive, warned: "While water is currently a monopoly industry, companies must not rest on their laurels and assume that they can get away with delivering poor service."