The consumer watchdog says it has received the highest number of complaints about water companies in almost a decade.

Issues with billing dominated calls to the Consumer Council for Water accounting for around two-thirds of total complaints made.

There was also a significant rise of 48% in households complaining to CCW about poor experiences with smart meter installations.

CCW assesses each company’s performance based on the number of complaints they receive per 10,000 households served.

Thames Water and Yorkshire Water showed some signs of improvement but remain the poorest performers.

Thames Water has been granted permission to pay its fine of £122.7m for breaching rules over sewage spills and shareholder payouts in instalments.

It will pay 20% of the fine, or £25.4m, no later than the 30th of September.