 Water bills look set to rise from 2005 |
Consumer group WaterVoice have said that complaints about water firms are at their highest level for five years. WaterVoice received 12,293 complaints in the past year, a 27% increase on the figure for 2002-03.
The watchdog said most complaints had related to price rises but there were also more problems with water supply and bill administration.
Watervoice added that they managed to secure �776,705 in compensation for wronged consumers.
Recently, Watervoice called on the industry regulator Ofwat to stop water firms from increasing bills by �70 on average between 2005 and 2010.
Water firms should have to make do with two-thirds the planned increase or risk hitting low income customers hard, WaterVoice added.
But firms say that the price rise is needed to fund �22bn of essential infrastructure work.
"We are concerned by the rise in customer complaints, particularly at a time when water companies are proposing huge bill rises for the next five years," Maurice Terry, WaterVoice Council Chairman, said.
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