Thames Water has reduced the number of complaints it receives by 10,300 in a year, a new report has found.

The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) praised the firm in its annual study of customer complaints and said it had responded to calls for better service.

But the report also claimed Thames Water had more work to do, with the firm remaining among the worst for numbers of complaints about sewerage, leaks and supply issues.

It was the worst performing firm for resolving complaints quickly, but did improve its record on the previous year. Suppliers have a 90 per cent target for resolving issues after just one written complaint.

Thames Water managed to do this 89.2 per cent of the time in 2014 and 2013 – up from 83.4 per cent in the previous period.

CCWater said: “Thames Water, the largest water and sewerage company in England and Wales, has responded to CCWater’s calls to improve its service to customers. Evidence of this came with a reduction of complaints, taking the company to below the industry average, and improving its comparative position by three places. Thames Water says it has identified leakage as a major source of water supply complaints and aims to address this issue.”

There was a downward trend in complaints to water companies nationally, the group added, but customer satisfaction remained a major challenge.

Improving satisfaction with value for money and affordability remains a major challenge for the industry, it said.

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