Customer priorities tracking research (Wave 3)

CCW and Ofwat have been working together to establish a clear and consistent way to understand which service priorities matter most to water customers, and how these change over time. Our work led us to develop a quarterly tracker, with the first wave published in June 2026 and the second wave published in August 2026.

This report covers the third wave, as we continue to track whether customer priorities shift with seasonal conditions and weather over the course of the year. We will be able to gauge the impact of factors like changing demand for water services and differing customer experiences during wetter months and hotter/drier periods.

As the sample increases over the course of the regular tracker, the aim is that this will help us see a more accurate picture of customer preferences when it comes to the different priority areas that will be tested.

It will deliver key insights for the wider price review engagement process, including helping to inform Ofwat’s outcome delivery incentives (ODI) and, more broadly, to keep CCW’s finger on the pulse of customer opinion.

Key findings

• across all three waves, the top priorities for customers were providing clean, safe drinking water (with 90% rating it highly important), preventing sewage flooding inside the home (86%), and keeping pipes and sewers in good working order (85%).
• the lowest ranked priorities were providing information and support to people/businesses about how to use less water (59%), reducing carbon footprint (60%), and ensuring bathing sites are clean enough to swim (70%).
• there has been little change since the first two waves, with a strong and consistent pattern of customer priorities continuing to emerge.
• however, it is worth noting that 43% of customers in wave 3 rated at least 13 of the 14 areas that were tested as highly important, while 30% rated all 14 areas as highly important. This suggests that they see water company performance as a broad package of essential responsibilities rather than a small number of isolated priorities.