Retail performance

We provide business customers with information on water retail service providers' performance, including customer complaints. We collect this information from customer complaints made directly to providers and those reported to us.

How we measure performance

We use two complaint sources to gain insight into the performance of companies;

  • complaints received directly by retailers; and
  • complaints raised directly to CCW about companies.

To make sure complaints are fair for all retailers, we use something called a Supply Point ID (SPID). The measure we use to do this is ‘complaints per 10,000 supply points’. For example:

  • Total complaints: 600
  • Total supply points: 4,000,000
  • Complaints per 10,000 supply points = 600/4,000,000 x 10,000 = 1.5

How we compare performance

We recognise that for smaller retailers, each complaint can make performance appear disproportionately poor. We categorise retailers based upon their size in the following way;

  • smaller retailers – less than 5,000 supply points; and
  • larger retailers – more than 5,000 supply points.

In this industry, almost 99% of it is controlled by big retailers. Complaints about smaller retailers are quite rare, with only five reported to CCW in 2023-24. Because of this, we handle larger retailers separately from the smaller ones. We use the median and quartiles as our main ways to understand trends among the big retailers. When it comes to the smaller retailers, we rely more on detailed explanations and stories to analyse what’s happening.

We measure performance by complaints per 10,000 SPIDs and colour code them as follows:

How we measure
Good
Better than median*
Worse than median*
Poor

*Median – a mid-point of the data set, or a middle value in the list of numbers that are arranged by highest to lowest.

Please note that the data in the publication is unaudited and is subject to change at the end of the year.

Larger retailer’s performance in 2025-26 (April 2025 to June 2025)

Company Number of SPIDs Total complaints per 10,000 SPIDs Complaints to CCW per 10,000 SPIDs
ADSM 11411 0.0 0.0
Business Stream 389936 22.29 1.80
Castle Water 446512 24.10 3.94
Clear Business Water 24792 65.34 6.45
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water** 195249 12.45 0.36
Everflow 188936 5.19 1.53
Pozitive Water Limited 14108 3.54 0.71
Hafren Dyfrdwy** 8889 2.25 0.00
SES Business Water 34051 42.58 3.52
Source for Business 151945 4.28 0.66
Water Plus 699999 28.27 2.44
Water2Business 181105 9.17 0.17
Wave 395043 10.94 1.49

**Only business customers in Wales who use 50 megalitres of water per year are allowed to access the retail market and choose their water retailer. The above numbers for Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy relates to the total number of SPIDs and not just those in the open retail market. The majority of business customers in Wales continue to receive retail services from Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water or Hafren Dyfrdwy.

Small retailers’ performance in 2025-26 (April 2025 to June 2025)

We’re unable to colour code small retailers’ performance due to small number of complaints.

Company Number of SPIDs Complaints to retailer Complaints to CCW
ConservAqua 4,014 Total complaints: 10

Complaints per 10,000 supply points: 0.0

Total complaints: 0

Complaints per 10,000 supply points: 0.0

The Water Retail Company 1,984 Total complaints: 0

Complaints per 10,000 supply points: 0.0

Total complaints: 0

Complaints per 10,000 supply points: 0.0

Smarta Water 2,387 Total complaints: 0

Complaints per 10,000 supply points: 0.0

Total complaints: 0

Complaints per 10,000 supply points: 0.0

Veolia Retail 736 Total complaints: 0

Complaints per 10,000 supply points: 0.0

Total complaints: 0

Complaints per 10,000 supply points: 0.0

Yu Water 982 Total complaints: 14

Complaints per 10,000 supply points: 142.57

Total complaints: 4

Complaints per 10,000 supply points: 40.73

Complaint trend

Below, you’ll find graphs that track how retailer complaint trends changed over time. One graph shows complaints received by retailers per 10,000 supply points, while the other illustrates complaints reported directly to CCW per 10,000 supply points.

We can’t show complaint trends for small retailers, because we received very few complaints from them.

Key

blue solid line Retailer performance
red dotted line Poor – if retailer performance is above line
black dotted line Median* performance
green dotted line Good – if retailer performance is below line

*Median – a mid-point of the data set, or a middle value in the list of numbers that are arranged by highest to lowest.

ADSM


Business Stream


Castle Water


Clear Business Water


Everflow


Pozitive Water Limited


SES Business Water


Source for Business


Water Plus


Water2Business


Wave