Figures recently published by CCWater show that the number of non-household complaints in the deregulated water market show no sign of abating. Whilst revealing a marginal improvement from the previous quarter complaints received by the customer watchdog for Q3 were up by more than 20% from the same period last year. Of these more than 70% related to billing and charges.
Eddie Spencer, Head of Water Services for Schneider Electric commented, “The introduction of competition and creation of specialist retailers was intended to improve metering, billing and customer services, however, approaching the market’s second anniversary and some suppliers are simply being overwhelmed by queries and complaints. Billing errors are rife, communication lines between wholesalers and retailers wholly ineffective, and overall the expected customer experience advancements simply haven’t materialised.
CCWater’s findings are only the tip of the iceberg, with their numbers dwarfed by the volume of grievances held up in the retailers’ internal complaints processes. Ofwat’s vision was for competition to represent the catalyst for widespread water efficiencies by the end user, but if retailers aren’t even capable of raising an accurate bill how can customers have any faith in their added value service proposition?
Having corrected millions of pounds worth of overcharging Schneider Electric would strongly recommend that businesses check they are being billed correctly before consider service enhancements such as AMR and water efficiency schemes. Water management is the long-term vision, but for many organisations there are more pressing hurdles that first need to be overcome.”
Contact:
Eddie Spencer
Head of Water Services
T: +44 (0) 161 785 5737
