Southern Water Reviews 897

Southern water employs telephone staff who either don't listen or who are incredibly incompetent...Following a community script.

I am disabled and was on an essential tariff.
They wrote to me and asked me for evidence to prove that I was still disabled, ridiculous, which I did.
I've sent it in on three separate times and i've sent it by email.
Had it confirmed by somebody on the phone that they'd received it and still nothing has been done.
It's now been seven weeks when I ring up....
They're asking me on the phone, will my position change?
No!!.
I'm going to be this way for life.
I have then also sent them statements of money evidence in...three times!!! And still been asked same questions when l ring up.....despite my emailed evidence
Also they sent someone out to read the metre.
Although I have a separate metre in my property as the people upstairs, we have one shared water metre outside.
So therefore I could have been being overcharged on top of that as well.
And has anyone informed me What's going on?
No!! , and no one will help me. I've asked for supervisor and been ignored.
So i've decided i'm not paying the bill anymore....Until somebody contacts me!
And if they cut my water off, they'll be cutting off the people who rent the property upstairs.

Shocking company they have been harassing us for £2000 said we owed them after a month of phone call explaining we do not owe this amount, they have finally sorted it but you have to speak to someone higher up , they now say we only owe £319 and not the £2000 this has caused us a lot of stress and anxiety. If you think they have it wrong challenge them

Contacted Southern Water last week to raise a problem with a broken meter cover. Response was immediate and the promise of a visit arranged. Delighted to report that the man arrived as arranged and a replacement cover fitted. Although a simple job it was very well handled and a good outcome. Many thanks for the swift response.

Besides the constant sewage discharges, the massive price hikes due to zero infrastructure investment over 40 years and huge director salaries / shareholder dividends, and the poor standard of water delivered to our doors, I'd like to understand why Southern Water think their billing practices can be so different to other utility companies. I've never had an issue with other utility companies with regards billing, but with Southern Water - ALWAYS!

5 days ago. An email stating "we are processing your bill and it should be with you soon. Why not pay your bill now?". I guess the answer is because I've not yet received the bill by the means agreed by the company and customer, and it's not due yet! Also, you're processing it i.e. you've not yet sent it.

Today (still no bill received). An email stating "You have not paid your bill yet. It's time to pay your bill. This is a reminder that your bill is due in 7 days".

Why do Southern Water think they have the right to chase customers for payment before a bill is due? This is not a practice used by other companies, and quite frankly it stinks - like Southern Water's constant sewage discharges.

It will be interesting to see when this bill arrives, and, if their past billing pattern continues. Previously we have received bills on say 28th May for example, that are already past due, due to when it was posted, and the dates do not match their emails.

SORT IT OUT SOUTHERN WATER!

Terrible ethics. River pollution galore. They do not care about people or planet. I honestly cannot understand how they are still allowed to run the show. I know corruption is widespread in all corners of society, but isn't it well about time that stops?

We are forced to pay for this corruption, and not just with our money - we are forced to sacrifice our own environment against our will. Rivers aren't meant to be sewage / chemical dumps.

It's not right nor is it okay Southern Water.

got referred across by portsmouth water and had letter through, they going to help with things so very grateful, thanks

Southern water are a disgraceful company. They had been taking over payments off me for over a year to clear a debt as well as taking money through a debt collector for the owed bill. When this was realised by the debt collector they contacted me and told them the debt was resolved. I had no contact from southern water apologising for the overcharge. I had to contact southern water myself, they insisted on keeping the account credit. After back and fothing they agreed that they will refund me the account credit in 10 working days. I called 5 working days later as I had received no confirmation of the refund. They assured me the refund was processing and they would send me confirmation. I didn’t receive any confirmation but decided to wait until Monday. Still didn’t receive the refund on Monday called Wednesday and was then told they aren’t able to refund me the money. They are a million pound company thriving through corrupt dealings stealing off individuals like myself. Absolute disgrace.

Southern Water charge me for waste water, my fresh water comes from Portsmouth Water. For the period between October 2024 to 31st March 2025 Southern Water charged me for 57m2 waste £161.04 (6 months). My current bill from Southern Water (October 2025 to April 2026) for 61m2 of waste water £266.19. The increase? Absolutely disgusting.

Terrible - a natural monopoly. You are forced to use this terrible company in the Southampton/Winchester area.

Complete lack of responsibility when it comes to delivering good outcomes for customers. Southern Water lack transparency, refuse to send out engineers (even though you are forced into using their infrastructure), and stick by processes with no logic/reasoning behind them.

I would avoid at all costs. Probably the worst, least cooperative, most expensive and useless company I have ever had the misfortune of coming across.

My bill went up by a staggering 51.3% last year thanks to OFWAT. My monthly DD went from £15 to £29 I cancelled and complained. I refused to pay for a year. Southern refused to accept the complaint of my price increase. They then sent me to a debt recovery for a mere £109 outstanding bill. I'm now reluctant to pay £20 every 2 weeks for a shoddy company.

I am having to take extra measures to even get a response from Southern Water.

At the beginning of the year, I noticed that my bill was significantly higher than usual. While this issue has since been resolved, I have been unable to access my online account to review my billing details. This problem has now persisted for several months.

Despite resetting my password numerous times - each attempt being confirmed successfully - I continue to receive an error message when trying to log in.I have contacted customer service multiple times via phone, WhatsApp, and email, yet I have received no meaningful resolution. Tomorrow will be my 4th Friday of calling them attempting to get a solution. I was initially informed that my case had been escalated and that I would receive a response within 30 days. After following up, I was then told I would hear back within five days - however, no such response has been provided. I simply want to be able to login to my account so I can see the billings on my account.

Instead, I have repeatedly been sent password reset links, which does not address the underlying issue. As a customer you can reset the password and do not need them to do this for you.

Last Friday, I spent an additional 45 minutes on the phone with the team, and once again, no progress has been made. I have even requested something as simple as setting up a new account, but this has also not been actioned.

This level of service is extremely disappointing. I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to resolve what should be a straightforward issue, and I expect to have access to my account as a paying customer.

I was promised an email with a statement to show my outgoings and what I was paying for last Friday and still nothing has been made clear.

I would appreciate your urgent attention to this matter and a clear resolution without further delay.

They have been truly useless and I am pretty sure the technical team is non existent at this point as we are five months into the year and I have not heard from them once.

I live in a one-bedroom flat in Brighton and Hove, one of three flats in our building. Every single flat pays its own set of standing charges to Southern Water, meaning our building collectively pays over £1,050 per year before a single drop of water is used. The identical house next door pays £350. Same area, same pipes, same water. We pay three times as much in fixed charges simply because we live in flats. There is no justification for this whatsoever.

Then came the April 2026 bill. The variable water rate jumped 28% overnight. Not gradually. Not with any meaningful support or explanation. Just a near-third increase handed to customers who have absolutely no ability to switch supplier or challenge it.

To make matters worse, the wastewater charge on my bill is actually higher than the water supply charge itself. I am being charged more to remove water than to provide it. Southern Water has been repeatedly fined for pumping sewage into our rivers and coastlines, the very waterways they are supposed to protect, and yet here we are, paying premium prices for the privilege.

This company operates as a monopoly, answers to a regulator that has repeatedly failed consumers, and continues to extract maximum profit while polluting our environment. I am one person in one flat, but I intend to make as much noise as possible about this. Enough is enough.

I had to get on multiple calls with the customer service team as I can’t simply understand them. I eventually got through to someone who could explain something but still wasn’t perfect and they still couldn’t understand me!! How do these people get jobs on the phone??

On top of not being able to understand each other, if I did get through to someone who was clear they were utter heartless.

As much as I hate it, you’d might as well implement AI!!! Or nothing at all as they are both pointless.

This needs to be sorted out ASAP!

Complete scam. Avoidance best describes their customer service and complaints team. Our usage increased 10x in a 6 month period apparently, on top of a 47% increase in prices. Spent 15 days trying to speak to someone with no avail. On top of that, the quality of the water is the worse I've ever experienced.

my water bill close enough to my dual energy bill, wondering what actions taken by watch dog.

Useless company!!! I had a drainage engineer come round to inspect my drains, as we have rats getting into the loft. He told us to contact southern water as their shared drain had collapsed and he was pretty sure that's how they were getting in. Called them and spoke to a woman who told us they would be round in 7-10 days and that she would send a reference number. After a week of hearing nothing and not receiving the reference number, we called back and they hadn't even bothered to log it anywhere, so now we have another 7-10 day wait, being kept up all night by the rats. Absolutely shockingly useless!!!

Worst water company. Caused damage to my property broken my front door left me with a external leak the lousy goes on I have evidence supporting all these issues. Awful customer service nothings been resolved it’s been 8 months! 0 stars

There has been no communication. My latest bill was like for many a considerable increase. I calculated the variable charge. It is 62% YOY increase.

I queried this with Customer Services, who stated the valuation office had changed my bands. Having looked at this, it hasn't. This feels very much like fraudulent feedback in order to fob the customer off. And that I should take it up with them.

I'd argue it's an intentional strategy as part of the contact centre scripts. Clearly the regulator isn't fulfilling it's duty enabling Southern Water to quite literally get away with it.

My partner died 15th Jan 2026, so i contacted southern water to transfer the account, they did & then sent me a demand for £92, i said this was wrong, they recognised whoever set up the account did it incorrectly & would adjust it. They did but then wanted to charge me £36.22 for 13 days, I have called them at least 10times & explained Portsmouth water area annual charge is £437.95 divide this by 12 gives £36.50 divide this by 2 as i only had 13 days should be £18.25. I have called them about 10 times had red demands through as they still don't get it. I even had a debt collection agency chasing my dead partners estate. I've escalated it today to a stage 1 complaint & they gave me £20 off for my troubles, these people need shooting its traumatic enough my partner of 33 years dying without dealing with morons.

Incompetence that makes you contemplate existence.
My nan died. I rang them whilst executing the will and told them. I sent a death certificate. They posted the last bill in my name.
Rang once explained for the will we need a bill in her name, the account holder for the last 8 years.
Sent the bill in my name.
Rang twice...
Rang thrice...
...Rang 6 times.
Just received the bill in my name again.
Rang again and was told I couldn't deal with it because on their system the account is in my dead nans name and they need to speak to her.
Spoke to them on WhatsApp. Vikash said he has passed it on to the bereavement team so I can let them know my nan has passed.
She died in January, its the 21st of April, they have the death certificate. Southern water are single handed holding up hundreds of thousands in inheritance for tens of people. As they cant get a name on a letter right with 7 attempts.