Customer complaints over water bills surge by 50% in England and Wales
Complaints about water companies in England and Wales to an independent monitor surged by more than 50% last year, as customers bristled at steep bill increases.More than 16,000 complaints were lodged in 2025 with the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), a government-sponsored body that represents customers’ interests.That was up from 10,600 in 2024, with the flow of objections well above the level of the prior year in every month from March onwards.Water companies have faced huge public anger in recent years over the amount of sewage flowing into Britain’s rivers and seas.However, the extent of the outrage increased sharply last year when water companies were allowed to increase bills to pay for upgrades after decades of underinvestment.
Ofwat, the regulator in England and Wales, said water companies could increase bills by 36% between 2025 and 2030.Most of that increase came last April – prompting the surge of complaints.Water companies are braced for a further backlash this week when the next bill increases – including extra to account for inflation – are announced as part of that five-year plan.Complaints increased about every large water provider, according to the CCW, which handles issues that have not been resolved by the companies themselves.Southern Water had the most per customer, followed by Severn Trent and Thames Water, according to analysis of utilities with more than 1 million customers.
Mike Keil, the CCW’s chief executive, said: “The sustained rise in complaints to CCW reflects not only people’s worries about being able to afford increases in their water bill, but also confusion and concern around what they are getting in return for their money.Customers need to see evidence their money is improving services in the here and now, as well as dealing with the longer-term challenges.”By far the biggest reason for complaints during 2025 was the lack of affordability of bills, according to the CCW’s data.The body said such concerns added to the evidence in favour of introducing a lower “social tariff” across England and Wales to help poorer customers.“The postcode lottery created by existing water company social tariff schemes needs to be replaced by fairer and better targeted support,” Keil said.
A spokesperson for the industry body Water UK said: “We understand that bill increases are never welcome and recognise they are difficult for many households,That’s why water companies are more than doubling the help available, with £4,1bn in financial support available over the next five years for those customers that need it,”Public anger over bill increase has also been fuelled by the perception that water companies have paid out billions of pounds in dividends to investors, while also awarding large pay packets to bosses despite bans on bonuses at some firms,MPs on the public accounts committee on Thursday grilled executives from Ofwat and the government’s environment department about pay for water bosses, after the Guardian revealed that bosses at Yorkshire Water and Wessex Water had received previously undisclosed pay from other companies in the same group.
Anna Dixon, the Labour MP for Shipley, said the regulators should “crack down” on what she described as “water companies evading the bonus ban”.Lloyd Hatton, the Labour MP for South Dorset, criticised Ofwat and other water regulators for not policing water companies’ pay disclosures.Hatton asked the Ofwat bosses: “Why is it we wait for a report in the Guardian newspaper to understand exactly how water companies are operating and how they use those complex corporate structures to put extra pay behind their bosses?”England is the only country in the world with a fully privatised water system.The government controls water supply in Scotland and Northern Ireland, while much of Wales is supplied by the not-for-profit Dŵr Cymru.
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