A body representing the customers of water companies says complaints have risen by almost a third because concerns are not being addressed.
Billing disputes made up more than half of complaints, though concerns about environmental performance, such as spills from storm overflows and pollution, increased by 217%. Complaints relating to water meters also rose. "We’re particularly concerned to see a significant rise in complaints from customers with water meters who are questioning the accuracy of their bill.
"Our turnaround plan is focused on resolving customer complaints and improving the quality of their interaction with our business, from first contact through to resolution.""Our customers told us to focus on delivering safe and resilient water supplies, address concerns over our overall performance including on customer service, and deal more effectively with wastewater," he said.
Water UK, the trade association for the water industry, said companies were working hard to "provide the drinking water that is independently rated the joint-highest standard in the world".