Earlier in the year I moved house and needed to change the existing energy supplier for the property. By the time all the paperwork was completed, I owed the old utility for a week’s energy. The bill arrived, and when I opened it I had a real shock. It was enormous – the company wanted to charge me $73,295.44 for just 7 days service! Clearly, there was some mistake...
Recent research from charity Citizens Advice found major differences between how UK utilities handle customer service. The top performing utility (SSE) received just 47 complaints per 100,000 customers, yet another had 944 – over 20 times more. A further four companies had over 400 complaints per 100,000, within the three months between April and June 2015.
Figures released this week by the Energy Ombudsman show that complaints against energy companies in the UK are at their highest ever level. They more than doubled, from 10,598 in the first six months of 2013 to 22,671 in the same period of 2014. 84% of complaints related to billing and this news follows previous large fines for misselling for a number of utilities.Driven by a desire to open up the...
1st January 2014 saw a major change in the utility sector, as new Ofgem regulations came into force. Designed to create a clearer market, suppliers are now limited to offering eight tariffs to customers (four each for electricity and gas), which will be structured more simply. The aim is to make it easier to compare prices from different suppliers and therefore encourage switching to ensure consum...
The maze of different tariffs and deals offered by utility companies has long been criticised for confusing consumers and making it difficult for them to find the best deal for their particular needs. Two new announcements, from the Prime Minister David Cameron and industry regulator Ofgem aim to make it simpler – and in doing so increase the importance of customer service in the sector.&nbs...
electricity (Photo credit: Terry Freedman) The utility sector has often struggled with customer service but new figures seem to show that performance is improving. The latest quarterly statistics from Consumer Focus found that overall complaints about the six major energy companies fell by 7% in the first quarter of 2012. This meant that the average number of complaints was 77 per 100,000 cu...