Making a complaint about a water or sewerage company
Water and sewerage companies in England and Wales provide services to millions of homes and businesses every day. Sometimes things can go wrong with these services, leaving consumers disappointed or angry. You have the right to complain if:
- You are dissatisfied with the service you have received
- Your water company has not answered your questions properly
- Your water company has failed to do something it should have done
- Your water company has caused a problem with your water supply or sewerage service
How we can help
We offer a free service and are independent from Ofwat (The Water Services Regulation Authority), water and sewerage companies and retailers. We will:
- Handle your complaint professionally
- Reply promptly and explain matters clearly
- Keep you informed of how your complaint is progressing
- Explain what else you can do if we cannot help you achieve your desired outcome
- Explain what you can do if you are dissatisfied with our service
If you’ve received poor service, we may be able to get your water company to reconsider its actions or decisions or pay you compensation where appropriate.
We may formally investigate your complaint or facilitate mediation between you and your water company if your water company did not resolve it though its procedures. If these methods are unsuccessful, we will let you know the options available to you.
We may find that what your water company did was correct. It may have acted in line with regulatory requirements. We will explain this to you if that is the case.
If it has not been possible to find a resolution, you may be eligible to ask an adjudicator to make a final, binding decision.
There are different adjudication providers in the water industry and the one who would make a decision on your complaint depends on who supplies your service. Your Advisor at CCW will discuss this with you, including what you need to do, the level of support we can offer you and your likelihood of the adjudication outcome finding in your favour.
How you can complain
- Contact your water company or retailer first
- Send the company a letter or email explaining the problem and what action you would like them to take
- Still unhappy? Contact us
We will make every effort to resolve your complaint. If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome after our involvement, you may be eligible to take your complaint to an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme.
If you’re unhappy with how CCW managed your complaint, you can ask your CCW caseworker, or their manager, to arrange a formal review of your complaint.
Help with getting in touch
We provide letters and leaflets in large print, braile and other languages. We can print these for you.
If you have hearing or speech difficulties add 18001 before the office number to access the NGT (Next Generation Text) Service.