A water company is apologising to customers over problems with its new £20 million billing system.

Southern Water says "teething problems" are responsible for thousands of customers getting their bills late.

The company was forced to double the number of staff at its call centre in Durrington, Worthing, to cope with concerned customers trying to pay.

A consumer group says 80,000 payment cards and thousands of bills have been sent out late since the system was introduced in February.

This left people swamping customer service lines to find out how to settle their bills.

Steve Grebby, assistant policy manager at the Consumer Council for Water Southern, said the group had seen a ten-fold rise in the number of people complaining about service.

The majority had tried to contact Southern Water but could not get an answer.

He told The Argus: "These aren't people who are trying to avoid payment.

They're saying, I want to make a payment but I can't.' "People just can't get through."

He said many people who use payment cards were on low incomes and would struggle to meet backdated payments after getting their cards late.

Southern Water spokeswoman Karen Hoy said: "We are experiencing temporary teething problems with the new computer system and we are working to resolve these as quickly as possible.

"The problems have meant that, at times, customers have experienced problems getting through to our call centre, particularly as this is our busiest time of the year as the annual bills were recently posted to customers' homes. We are working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible and are sorry for the inconvenience some customers may be experiencing and thank customers for their patience."

Mr Grebby said: "Teething problems is an understatement.

"When people don't get bills or payment cards, or haven't had their meter read, the number of calls goes through the roof. We usually get 50 calls a month. We're talking about 500 for April alone."

The new system was installed to try to improve customer service, after the company came in for criticism over its handling of complaints.

Last year the Serious Fraud Office was called in after Southern Water gave incorrect performance figures to utility watchdog Ofwat.

It originally claimed it had successfully responded to 2,500 complaints within a ten-day time limit between 2004 and 2005. The company had actually received 8,000 complaints, with a significant proportion running over the ten-day period.

Last week detectives announced they were dropping the inquiry.

A spokeswoman for Ofwat said the watchdog's own investigation was ongoing.

The Consumer Council for Water Southern is advising people who cannot reach Southern Water to write. Under the Ofwat-administered Guaranteed Standards Scheme, if the company does not reply, customers are entitled to £20 compensation.

To contact the Consumer Council for Water Southern, call 0207 8314790.

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