A tracking study commissioned by water regulator Ofwat and consumer body CCW explores customers' views and experiences of water services in England and Wales, covering their understanding of how the industry works, attitudes towards affordability, satisfaction with services, and trust in water companies. Its latest findings offer some cautiously encouraging news for the water sector, while also shedding light on what customers actually prioritise.
The Customer Spotlight Wave 3 report, conducted in late 2025 and covering 2,303 adults across England and Wales, is the third instalment of a longitudinal study. Previous waves were conducted in 2021 (wave 1) and 2023 (wave 2), tracking public attitudes across a period of intense scrutiny for the sector. Its findings suggest that while trust and satisfaction remain well below 2021 levels, the downward trend may finally be stabilising — and on some measures, beginning to reverse.
Signs of recovery in a challenging landscape
After a difficult few years marked by high-profile controversies over sewage discharges, executive pay and financial governance, the report offers some tentative positive signals, albeit from a very low base.The proportion of customers who trust water companies to fix problems quickly has risen to 30%, up from 26% in 2023. Belief that services offer value for money has edged up to 25% from 22% (2023). On environmental credentials, 28% of respondents now trust water companies to do what is right for the environment, compared to 23% in 2023.
These are modest numbers in absolute terms, but the direction of travel matters. After two years in which virtually every metric moved in the wrong direction, stabilisation — and in some cases improvement — is a meaningful signal that efforts to rebuild public confidence may be beginning to take effect.
What the numbers still tell us
Overall satisfaction with water services stands at 55%, down from 65% in 2021, and satisfaction with wastewater and drainage services sits at 47%, compared to 56% four years ago. Only 33% of respondents agree that water companies provide a good service, against 40% in wave 1, while 40% believe companies are more interested in profit than service — a figure that has nearly doubled since 2021. These gaps represent a clear agenda for the sector: rebuilding the perception of water companies as service-driven organisations that deliver value for the bills customers pay.
Beyond the headlines: what customers really want
Perhaps the most thought-provoking finding in the report concerns sewage — and it cuts against the grain of much recent public debate. For several years, environmental campaigners, media outlets and parliamentary scrutiny have focused heavily on the impact of storm overflow discharges on rivers and coastal waters. Yet when customers are asked what they want water companies to prioritise over the next 10 to 20 years, preventing sewage from entering rivers, streams and the sea ranks fourth, at 78% — and has fallen since 2021, when it stood at 82%.
What customers actually place at the top of their agenda is more immediate and personal: clean, safe drinking water (85%) and preventing sewage from entering their homes (81%). This does not mean the public is indifferent to environmental harm — but it does suggest that the intensity of the debate around overflow impacts on the natural environment may reflect the priorities of campaigners and media more than those of ordinary bill payers.
This has real implications for how companies frame investment decisions. Research consistently shows that customers are more willing to accept bill increases when they can see a direct connection to service improvements they personally experience.
What this means for the industry
The stabilisation in trust scores is welcome, but the report is a reminder that recovery will be gradual and cannot be taken for granted. The gap between public debate and customer priorities points to a communication challenge: customers need to see and feel tangible improvements in their daily service before broader environmental commitments resonate fully.
The data also underlines the financial pressure many customers are under, with 36% expecting their situation to worsen in the coming year — a figure little changed since wave 2. In that context, demonstrating value and reliability in the basics will matter more than ever as the industry makes its case for the investment the coming decades will require.
