Firm ‘still has long way to go’ to reduce complaints

Southern Water has outlined how it plans to reduce the number of complaints by customers.

In July, Southern was handed a £90million fine after pumping 16billion-21billion litres of untreated sewage into delicate ecosystems over a sixyear period from 2010.

However, according to the company’s newly appointed chief customer officer, water complaints have fallen by 37 per cent in the year to April 2021 — which has ‘heartened’ staff.

“We recognise our waste water complaints and first contact resolution still have a long way to go to meet our customers’ expectations and we are determined to keep improving,” said Katy Taylor.

“We have committed to resolve more complaints effectively the first time we receive them, reducing complaint escalations by 20 per cent by next year.”

Ms Taylor said this would be done through improved training, ‘more customerfocused resources’ across the business and integrating systems.

“We know our customers want us to provide a reliable service to them and protect the environment with all we do,” she added.