FixAreas: Cases, Legal
Water complaints go to the Consumer Council for Water
Complain about a water company and the route you get is the Consumer Council for Water, then the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman. It used to say the Energy Ombudsman, which does not take water complaints.
Every water company on NoReply sat under “utility”, which meant it inherited the energy route: Ofgem as the regulator, the Energy Ombudsman as the place to take it. The Energy Ombudsman does not handle water complaints. Anyone who followed that line would have been turned away at the door.
Where a water complaint actually goes
Water is its own sector now, and the route is the real one. Ofwat is the regulator, and like other UK regulators it does not settle individual disputes. The first independent step is the Consumer Council for Water. It is free, and it takes your complaint once you have a final response or have waited eight weeks.
CCW can investigate and mediate, but it cannot order your water company to do anything. If that does not settle it, the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman can make a binding decision. You have six months from the deadlock letter to apply.
What changes on your case
Your letter now closes by naming both of them, in that order. The clock runs to eight weeks, which is CCW’s own rule, and the escalation card says to take it to the Consumer Council for Water rather than escalate to it, because CCW is not an ombudsman. Charlie says the same in chat, and the company page, its FAQs and its search result all agree.
If you looked this up yourself you may have found WATRS. That scheme ran until CCW took adjudication in house at the end of 2023, and Water UK appointed the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman in 2026. We do not send you there.
Scottish Water is not covered by any of this. Those complaints go to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.
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