South West Water Reviews 

I live with my elderly mother who receives pension credit I myself am extremely unwell having cancer and multiple other health problems. we received our last bill which I think was around £960 pounds which I have just finished paying only to receive a new estimated bill of £1604.68 estimated the meter is in such a position its impossible to read. To be honest this whole scenario has impacted my mental health severely. Last time I was promised a call back to find out if the meter readings were correct which never materialised and now faced with this extortionate bill I survive on universal credit which is hard enough but facing this now seems virtually impossible

I reported a leak in Kingsway Plympton Plymouthwith water running out of their cover on the pavement and it was running across the road . The man on the phone said they would have someone there in the afternoon . I went by a week later and it was still running across the road.
I cannot find a complaint area on their web site to tell them .

If I could give 0 stars then I would.

SWW is one of the UK's worst performing water companies. It charges some of the highest rates in the UK.

About two years ago, Torbay and the town of Brixham saw water contaminated resulting in residents not being able to use the water. On the back of this the then Chief of the company, gave herself a large pay rise and has since stepped down from her post with a huge pay off!

Our beaches have pollution poured in to the sea from SWW. Exmouth alone has had to have no swimming notices put up to warn folk not to swim in the seas due to pollution levels being so high.

If I knew it would work I'd start a petition to get my fellow Devonians to stop paying their water bills. SWW ain't going to turn off water to millions of folk who don't pay. It would then wake this poor excuse for a water company up to how bad they are.

They along with many utilities companies in the UK are making huge profits. Pockets are being fattened by those who run these companies whilst hard working Joe bloggs struggles to make ends meat in this world of price increases.

SWW = Rotten, bad performing, money grabbing, environment damaging company!

We had notice from sw water recently that we were using far more water than normal, up to a recent bill of £5k! They thankfully have halted this, to investigate. I should point out this property is our holiday home and we were there last in December 2025, so water usage would have been impossible. Our meter is in the road, not attached to the property. We arranged for an engineer to visit on Monday 18th May (9.30-1pm) and they didn’t turn up. We had to leave at 2 pm to get home to Stafforshire. We called them 3 times to chase the engineer. There are NO leaks in our property and we have carried out tap tests - video and results available. We then whatsapoed them tonight and suggested we book an appointment with an engineer!!. I’m appalled frankly by the level of service.what on earth is the matter with this company…???

Bad customer service at Xmas the women I spoke to told me she was in pain, today I ring them about appointment that was made to check my water metre they said they know nothing about it and they don’t deal with boiler it’s like your not heard, I nearly went out then the man showed up so goes to show what there like it feels like emotionally abuse and the man that came was very stand offish like they d all benn talking about me

Second hike in my monthly payment in a very short space of time an extra £20 a month what a joke .... and the way they handled my removing a name off the bill was absolutely hilarious, they refunded me a huge amount over a thousand and then charged me that £1000 2 weeks later just to shut an account down to restart another , why in gods name in 2026 would you physically shut my account down give me everything I have paid in that year back to me and then for me to give that back to them 2 weeks later makes absolutely no sense, what an experience..

It breaks my heart to admit I currently work for this company alongside many other hard working people on the ground dealing with real problems, lack of investment and aging infrastructure.
Here are the facts .
There is no money.
Don't believe the record investment bullshit you hear in the media.
Unless sewage is literally pouring into the river or sea they don't want to know.
Management are completely useless, verging on incompetent.
They have no idea what actually goes on day to day ,
There are so many staff leaving and on long term sick it's unbelievable.
Leaving huge gaps for others to cover.
You work hard to the point of putting your own health at risk and you are rewarded with someone else's work to do .
Sites are a mess because there is no money to pay for contractors to cut the grass.
You're expected to do this without the actual kit for the job as well as covering other people's work .
It's farcical.
Billing is a joke .
We recently moved house and have a septic tank and our bill has doubled.
Contacting anyone to fix this issue is almost impossible.
The whole company is a complete car crash .

Water leak line
67 minutes as number two in the queue, HOW?
I gave up

I was taken off the low water tarriff after only making an enquiry, was advised my water bill would rise another 50% so I immediately started to drastically use as little water as possible and save where was possible, then the bill arrived and my bill was doubled 😱😭i cannot save any more than I already have and why would my bill be double the usual amount the billing was also to complicated to read and understand I have zero confidence in S.W.W and its water meter readings and billing

Completely useless. Wildly inflated estimates and shocking customer service.

After recent water charge increase, my actual water charges are a couple of quid, but my services charges are huge. Water needs to be protected as a national security issue.

Where do I even begin....
So me and my gf where both out the country last year for 4 months September to December 2025 as you do we turned off the water in the house. When we returned we found a massive water bill upon investigating we found a leak at the water meter which took them over 2 months to fix and they had just guessed are meter reading, and now they are only refunding us £70 for a leak that could have been going on for 5 months!!! The company is an absolute joke and just out to steal your money if I could give them 0 stars I would and I would also change providers if I could.

Extorionate amounts charged for water and even more for sewerage. Have to run the kitchen cold tap for approximately one minute to get clear water to drink. SWW blames my pipes for this. Massive limescale build up in my toilets eventhough I thoroughly clean them. I use a lot of water due to health issues but still cannot get a reduction in water rates as I am not on a "Qualifying benefit". Water meter already installed on my property so am not allowed to go on an assessed charge. Funny how SWW management have such big bonuses...oh wait, it's due to them charging stupid amounts to their customers.

System will Not accept a meter reading.
Virtual Assistant is a complete Waste of time.

Horrendous organisation - appalling it’s 2026 and they are still around.

On several occasions I queried my bills, only to be told each time that the meter is read on a regular basis. As far as I am aware, my meter has only been read once in five and a half years, and that was when I requested an engineer to attend. I am not the only one to experience this and through Facebook, it appears to be standard practise for SWW. I believe that the Serious Fraud Office should investigate this to ascertain whether or not SWW are deliberately overcharging customers in order to earn interest on those funds. They should also look into SWW claims of regular meter readings taking place.

I have nothing good to say about this company-the hassle it takes to get any sort of query resolved is unbelievable. The prices have rocketed recently- I asked for some room to sort the new monthly bill, but all I've got is threatening letters! A jump from £31-50 to £49-50 pm is not reasonable! ( I'm on State Pension only).

There has been a large increase in my direct debit without any explanation. Tried to phone only to hear a recorded message saying I was 26th in the queue. According I wrote to them using 1st class mail. After 7 days they haven’t bothered to reply. Their customer service is appalling.

Bereavement Service is appalling. I contacted the bereavement line to advise that my mother had passed away. I gave them my contact details and asked to be updated and change the name on the account. I received a generic email to my address saying I have a new account and welcome to SWW! SWW also emailed my mum (now deceased and they were told) a closing bill and even addressed it to the executor of her estate. I called them and explained that its not best practice to send generic emails and maybe some recognition and empathy around someone passing would be a better thing to do. I was escalated to another team member who said the emails are auto generated and there is no bereavement team. With the millions this company make they should invest in a team to handle these times in peoples lives. Their intro message even says how much they value their customers and how well they treat them. Its a shocking way to deal with a bereaved person and even more so they dont have trained agents and a dedicated team. Fast forward to today and again they have emailed my mothers email address another bill.. Incompetence at its finest

000004301664 hi. this has not been fixed water as stated on your website the water is still pouring down the road and the road surface is cracking in front of houses. reported 8 weeks ago been out twice dug some holes in the field couldnt find leak and filled them back in !