If you have a problem with your water or wastewater services, first you will need to follow your water company’s complaints procedure. If your complaint is still unresolved, the Consumer Council for Water should be able to advise.
We do not generally deal with individual consumer complaints or enquiries about water companies. There are a small number of complaints we do deal with.
How to refer a dispute to us
If you wish to refer a dispute to us for determination you should submit your complaint via our online form or send a hard copy to:
Ofwat
Centre City Tower
7 Hill Street
Birmingham
B5 4UA
United Kingdom
We can also be reached on 0121 644 7500. We will always ask you to put your complaint in writing, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
If you are submitting the complaint on behalf of someone else, you will need to provide us with signed authorisation of their consent.
When submitting complaints, you should provide us with the following information:
- Details of the complainant(s)
- Details of the other parties involved
- A clear description of what the complaint is about, including any details around costs, plans, copies of quotations, photographic evidence (where relevant) and relevant correspondence
- Key dates and chronology
- Explanation of the process that has been followed to resolve the dispute (for example, has CCWater or WATRS been involved?)
- A description of any other issues relating to the dispute that the complainant considers relevant
Ofwat’s procedure and timeframe for dealing with disputes
In setting timeframes for the different types of cases we deal with, we look at:
- The level of complexity
- The amount of resource likely to be required to progress a case
- The financial consequences of a case for the parties
- The significance of a case in terms of setting a precedent
Further information on our timeframes for handling complaints.
The flowchart below sets out the procedure that we will generally follow when dealing with disputes.
