How to make a complaint

To make a complaint about your water supply or bill, please follow our step-by-step guide.

Need help or have a complaint? Let’s sort it quickly.

We’re here to help, and the fastest way to get things resolved is by speaking to us directly.

📞 Call us or 💬 use Live Chat for the quickest support – it means we can look into your issue straight away and often resolve it in just one conversation.

We’ll always handle written enquiries too, but they naturally take a bit longer due to the process involved. Reaching out by phone or live chat helps us get things sorted faster for you.

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Make a billing complaint

If your complaint is regarding payment arrangements or is a query about your bill or other, please call the number below.
  • Monday to Friday - 8am to 6pm
  • Saturday - 9am to 1pm

Call 0345 600 3600

Make a operations complaint

If your complaint is regarding loss of supply; low pressure; leakage issues; roadwork or traffic issues; outstanding work or other, please call the number below.
  • Monday to Friday - 8am to 6pm (This number can also be used out of hours, but only for emergencies.)

Call 0345 702 3797

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Our complaints process

Stage one

If you have a complaint about your bill or water supply and you contact us by telephone, we’ll try to resolve it immediately for you. If it isn’t possible for you to call us, you can use any of our other contact options available. 

If we can’t resolve your issue right away, we aim to resolve it within five working days. However, if it requires more investigation we’ll make sure we respond to you within ten working days from the date you contact us. We will be clear with you on the timescales of when we expect to resolve your complaint.

If we fail to respond within ten working days, you’ll automatically receive a payment under our customer charter the Bristol Water Promise. You can find out about our Customer Promise commitments.

Stage two

If you are unhappy with our initial response your complaint will be reviewed by a senior manager, they will respond to you within ten working days. 

Stage three

If you are not happy with the final resolution after your complaint has been reviewed by a manager, your issues is over eight weeks old, or you just want free, trusted, independent advice, you can contact the Consumer Council for Water (CCW). CCW are the independent voice for water consumers in England and Wales. You can also call them on 0300 034 2222. If CCW thinks your complaint is justified, we will be asked to take the appropriate action to put things right.

Some types of complaints need to be dealt with by Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority rather than CCW.  If this is the case CCW can advise you. 

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Some helpful contacts

Billing

  • Address: Customer Services, BWBSL, 1 Clevedon Walk, Nailsea, BS48 1WA
  • Call: 0345 600 3600 (Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm, Sat 9am-1pm)

Operations

  • Address: Customer Services, Bristol Water plc, Bridgwater Road, Bristol, BS13 7AT
  • Call: 0345 702 3797 (Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm. Emergency service at all other times)

Consumer Council for Water