Portsmouth Water named as 'top' water company by watchdog as complaints skyrocket during price hikes
“People have been hit with significant bill rises and are impatient to see the benefits where they live.”
Portsmouth Water is among the best-performing water companies in the country, a watchdog has concluded.
Household complaints about water companies to the sector watchdog have seen their largest-ever annual increase following the steepest hike in charges since privatisation. Complaints to the Consumer Council for Water (CCW) are up 84 per cent, the biggest year-on-year rise in the watchdog’s 20-year history, it said.
Meanwhile, complaints made by households directly to water companies have also soared, by 56 per cent on last year. The increase has been primarily driven by growing concerns and confusion over rising charges, with complaints made to firms about billing increasing by 72 per cent and those made to CCW up by 97 per cent.
Ofwat allowed water firms to put up bills by 36 per cent between 2025 and 2030, with eye-watering increases seen in 2025 and another 5.4 per cent on average from April this year.
The CCW measures assessed each company’s performance on the number of complaints it received for every 10,000 households it serves, and the amount of effort customers have to put in to get their complaint resolved.
Their report, which has been published today (Wednesday, September 16), shows that Portsmouth Water and Bristol Water were the only companies to score ‘good’ in both metrics, retaining their position at the top of the rankings as the sector’s best performers.
CCW chief executive Mike Keil said: “It’s deeply troubling to see such an unprecedented rise in complaints.
“These numbers reflect just how dissatisfied many people still are with the state of the water sector and the enormous task water companies face in rebuilding consumer trust.
“People have been hit with significant bill rises and are impatient to see the benefits where they live – whether that’s a more reliable service, cleaner rivers or effective and empathetic support when they are struggling to pay their bill.
“Companies need to be clear and open with their customers about how they are investing people’s money to deliver real improvements.”
Elsewhere in the report, Southern Water - which serves households in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Sussex, and Kent, was ranked further down the list, alongside the likes of Thames Water, Severn Trent Water, Wessex Water and South East Water.
These five companies have been provisionally allowed to increase customer bills even further between 2027 and 2030.
Last month, Ofwat announced that it had given the suppliers the provisional go-ahead for an extra £3.4bn in spending by the end of the decade to help upgrade networks to cope with new housing and data centres, and tackle so-called forever chemicals to ensure drinking water is safe and reliable.
It means the customers of those firms could see further unexpected hikes on top of those already in place since last April, although that remains unconfirmed at the time of publication.