Cambridge Water has topped a new Consumer Council for Water survey which looks at customer satisfaction in the water industry.
Around 96% of customers said they were satisfied with the overall service provided by the water company. The industry leading score was also achieved by South Staffs Water – the company which owns Cambridge Water.
A further 75% were in agreement that it represented value for money and 79% said that the water charges were affordable.
The Water Matters survey was carried out by the Consumer Council for Water which represents the interests of water consumers in England and Wales, and took account of the views of 5805 consumers.
Overall , the survey shows that satisfaction with water and sewerage services provided by the water companies remains high - in 2013, 93% of respondents are satisfied overall with their water supply, a small increase from 90% in 2012. Overall satisfaction with sewerage services has seen a small rise from 85% to 87% after three years of decline.
The survey’s other key findings include the fact that the number of households using less water has fallen slightly. In previous surveys, customers have been asked if they do anything to use less water, and if so, what.
This year for the first time, customers were asked if they have made a ‘conscious decision’ to use less water, and if so, what. Many more metered customers (72%) than non-metered customers (59%) say they made a conscious decision to save water. The main motivation to save water amongst metered customers is financial (41%).
The researxh reveals mixed views on how financial benefits should be spent . Customers were asked how they would prefer their water and/or sewerage company to share any potential financial benefits with customers. ‘Spend more on improving services that customers think are important’, was the most popular response (50%), followed by ‘provide more financial help to customers on low incomes’ (42%) and ‘provide a one-off rebate to all customers’ (32%).
Water and sewerage companies seen as more caring than energy suppliers
The survey also shows that suppliers of water and sewerage services (63%) continue to be seen as more caring than energy suppliers (53%). These findings have been relatively stable for a number of years.
Customers were asked how much they trust their water and/or sewerage company and energy company on a scale of one to ten (1 = no trust and 10 = complete trust). Average trust scores have remained fairly constant for water and sewerage over the last five years (around 7.2 to 7.3), but trust in energy suppliers continues to decrease (down to 6.5 in 2013 from 7.2 in 2010).
Click here to read the survey in full.