John Reynolds OBE, CEO of Castle Water has said that the Consumer Council for Water has failed to get to grips with the detail of the new retail market.
The chief of Castle Water was responding to this morning’s report that the water watchdog has told England’s second largest water retailer, to address unacceptable complaint numbers. John Reynolds commented:
“In reality, the separation of retail from wholesale has helped bring new transparency to water charging and improved the quality of billing accuracy for several thousand customers. has simply not got to grips with the detail of the new market. Its ostrich impression doesn’t help customers and will distort the market.”
Castle Water purchased the non-household retail businesses of Thames Water and Portsmouth Water prior to the market opening last April, taking over the provision of services including billing and meter reading to thousands of businesses and other non-household customers.
The retailer has since resolved thousands of serious historical errors in billing data and is currently resolving several thousand more issues. Castle Water said its bills had provided greater transparency by showing how charges are calculated, making it easier for customers to challenge them.#
A statement issued by the company said:
“As an independent water retailer, is ideally placed to challenge historic bills and pricing and to act on customers behalf to ensure they are paying the right prices for their water. This can be seen in the number of resolved cases where Castle Water has successfully challenged the billing parameters set by wholesalers.”
To date the company has moved over 50,000 supply points to monthly consolidated bills, giving efficiency gains for multi-site businesses. Average call waiting time has been under 30 seconds this year to date, and under 50 seconds for the past four months. Castle Water has now delivered benefits to customers of over £600,000 which result from the new market arrangements.
The retailer said it is committed to improving customer service further – new initiatives include:
- Commissioning a new customer service centre, which will be operational in May;
- Completing a redesign of invoices, based on customer feedback received over the past year, which will be complete in April; and
- Currently piloting a new online account management system, which will be rolled out to all customers.
Iain McPherson, Customer Services Director added:
“We are not complacent, and are continuously improving our services for all customers. The next few weeks and months will see further significant improvements, resulting from the investment we have made over the past year.”
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