An Ipswich councillor has called for Anglian Water to invest more in infrastructure after they dropped from being a 'leading' water company to 'lagging behind' in the space of two years.

Ruman Muhith, who represents Priory Heath on Ipswich Borough Council, was unhappy with the service from Anglian Water following Storm Babet, which saw thousands of homes left without water after their treatment works in Whitton was 'extensively' damaged.

He said the situation encouraged him to look into the company's Ofwat ratings which is when he discovered Anglian Water dropped from being defined as a 'leading' company in 2020-2021 to 'lagging behind' in 2022-23. 

An Anglian Water spokesman said the drop was expected due to "unprecedented pressures" due to weather events.

Cllr Muhith said: "What I was really annoyed about was that they knew the storm was coming, yet they did not prepare themselves.

"That is probably one of the reasons why they have dropped so badly, are they doing risk assessments?

"How come two years ago you were doing so much better than now? What has changed so much?"

In 2020-21, Ofwat found Anglian Water was a 'leading' company and the top performer for leakages and sewer flooding.

It was also rated at or better than target for customer satisfaction, drinking water quality and unplanned outages, amongst others.

But in 2022-23, Ofwat rated Anglian Water as 'lagging behind' overall, with the company coming in as poorer than target in customer satisfaction, leakages, supply interruptions, drinking water quality and other categories.

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “We share the disappointment that we have been listed as a lagging company for 2022/23, despite our improvements in performance in a number of key areas last year. However, following two extreme climate events last year, we expected our performance to drop as our infrastructure came unprecedented pressure."

Mr Muhith said many other homeowners whose water had been cut off after the storm took to Facebook to share their views on the provider.

Cllr Muhith said: "People were saying 'we pay money and the service has been rubbish'.

"Some parts of the town don't get the right amount of pressure. I believe some people now are considering buying houses depending on if it is high land or low land because they can't get the water pressure.

"This is all stuff I believe Anglian Water should be sorting out. Invest properly in your infrastructure," he added.

The Anglian Water spokesman said the focus remains on regaining its place as a leading company.

The spokesman said: “The work we’ve undertaken since then focuses on ensuring how we are even more resilient to these challenges in the future, especially as they are felt more acutely in our region than any other."