One of the UK’s leading water retailers has announced the launch of an industry-first Charter, marking a major milestone in the sector’s customer service standards.

Developed in response to colleague and customer feedback, Business Stream’s Customer Care Charter sets out 12 commitments that the Edinburgh-based water retailer is committed to delivering to meet and exceed its customers’ needs.

Jo Mayes (pictured above), Customer Services Director at Business Stream, said: “As a customer-centric business, we’re passionate about delivering a great service to our customers, every day. This initiative was born out of a desire across the company to always be transparent, to use customer insight to help shape our service delivery and to hold ourselves to account. 

The Charter provides a framework around the initiatives and services we’re already delivering, or are striving to deliver, for our customers, and also demonstrates our intent to continuously improve the service we provide.”

The Customer Care Charter focuses on four key areas: Simple and Easy, Trust, Experience and Expertise, and Care. Each pillar, which has been informed by customer research and insight, is backed by clear, measurable actions that exceed business-as-usual expectations

Commitments include longer opening hours, a new live chat service, faster call response times and tailored support for vulnerable customers. Other commitments include maintaining high satisfaction and Trustpilot ratings, further investment in water efficiency services, solutions and data analytics, and meeting environmental and social value targets.

Jo Mayes added: “We’ll report annually on our progress, as we want to be transparent and build real trust around our commitment to this Charter. And we’ll regularly review our commitments to ensure they continue to reflect what matters most to our customers and colleagues. 

This initiative is strongly aligned to our vision to make a positive difference and our hope is that this Charter helps set a new benchmark for customer care in our industry.”

The Scottish retail water market opened in 2008. The English retail water market, which opened in April 2017, paved the way for over 1.2 million businesses and public bodies in England to be able to choose their water supplier.

Business Stream is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scottish Water with its own board and independent management team. It was formed in 2006 with the goal of providing a first-class service for business customers on the opening of the competitive market in Scotland. 

The company acquired the non-household customer base of Southern Water ahead of the opening of the English retail water market. Then in 2019 they acquired the customer base of its competitors Yorkshire Water Business Services (YWBS) and Three-Sixty, doubling its market share.

In 2019, Business Stream launched its vision to make a positive difference to its customers, its people, the environment and local communities. Business Stream was awarded a Gold rating by global sustainability assessors, EcoVadis, in January 2025, placing the company within the top 98th percentile of all organisations assessed.