News
Castle Water Ordered To Address Customer Complaint Levels
The water watchdog is cracking down on customer complaints at one water supplier, putting pressure on the retailer now after months of high levels of customer concerns from both businesses and other non-household customers.
Castle Water has been ordered to prioritise these unacceptable levels of complaints, which were more than double the industry average between September 1st 2017 and the end of February this year. In all, the company was responsible for about 44 per cent of the 1,630 complaints the watchdog received during this period.
The supplier purchased the non-domestic retail business of Portsmouth Water and Thames Water before the market opened last April. Interestingly, since the retail market opened last year CCWater has seen a higher-than-expected increase in customer complaints from some of the retailers.
It is due to publish its first annual market complaints report in the summer, highlighting those retailers that are performing the best – and the worst.
The organisation’s London and south-east chair Sir Tony Redmond commented on the Castle Water news, saying: “Many of the businesses that have contacted us have been angry and frustrated at Castle Water’s handling of their accounts and complaints.”
“We’ve made very clear to the company it needs to do better and we will continue to shine a light on its performance and any other retailers where we have serious concerns.”
With so much to do in terms of running a successful business, the last thing you want is to have to deal with a troublesome retailer and if you have been having trouble with your chosen company it might be time to consider switching water supplier.
Previous research from CCWater has found that just two out of five small to medium-sized enterprises are currently aware that they’re actually able to switch water supplier. But once businesses were made aware of the retail market, the majority of those asked did say they were interested in finding out more about it, with 47 per cent looking for further information, 24 per cent actually switching and 31 per cent negotiating better deals with their existing retailer.
There are lots of different benefits to switching, including making cost savings with better tariffs from an alternative supplier, enjoying better service (such as quicker responses to queries and more accurate billing), finding a specialist supplier for your industry or operational needs, consolidating your water supply across multiple sites using a single supplier and taking advantage of value-added extras on top of your waste water services and regular water supply.
Because being able to choose your own supplier is so new for businesses in England, it’s no surprise that some companies are struggling to navigate this newly deregulated market. If you’d like some help or further information, get in touch with us here at H2O Building Services today.
We’re a team of experienced consultants who know the water supply industry inside out, so you know you’ll get all the information you need to make the best decisions for your company.