Which? surveyed 8271 adults about their gas and electricity bills and experience of complaints to their energy supplier. Some of the key findings were:
40% had a problem with an energy supplier in the last 2 years
41% bottom customer score for Npower
4 million number of complaints recorded in a year by the major energy suppliers
A whopping 95% complaints upheld in favour of the customer by the Energy Ombudsman.
£125 average financial award from the Energy Ombudsman
£4 million potential compensation black hole
As the report goes onto suggest is this just the tip of the iceberg! The main problem area was billing including mistakes on bills, inaccurate meter readings or missing bills.
A quarter of those who had a problem with a supplier admitted they did nothing about the problems. Of those, 44% thought that complaining would make no difference; 28% felt the problem wasn’t serious enough; and 23% though it was too much hassle. For many of us that sounds all so familiar.
Of those who did complain, 12% abandoned their complaint and 8% switched suppliers entirely.
The Energy Ombudsman will look at complaints if the energy company has not resolved the issue within 8 weeks. Which? reveals nearly 57,000 complaints remained unresolved after 8 weeks. Given 95% of complaints are upheld and average payout is £125, that is a possible £4 million of unclaimed cash.
Another interesting and again a lesson for us all, is that 90% of unresolved complaints do not make it to the Ombudsman. This was put down to lack of communication from the energy suppliers about the existence of the Ombudsman and in the case of two energy companies, their published complaints procedure does not clearly state the ombudsman service is free.
Finally, the highest customer satisfaction rating of 84% went to Good Energy, who supplies renewable electricity, though the prices are about 25% more than the cheapest tariff on the market. Npower received the worst customer score of 41%, its complaints handling was rated 11 out of 12.
Full report in the February 2012 edition of Which?
40% had a problem with an energy supplier in the last 2 years
41% bottom customer score for Npower
4 million number of complaints recorded in a year by the major energy suppliers
A whopping 95% complaints upheld in favour of the customer by the Energy Ombudsman.
£125 average financial award from the Energy Ombudsman
£4 million potential compensation black hole
As the report goes onto suggest is this just the tip of the iceberg! The main problem area was billing including mistakes on bills, inaccurate meter readings or missing bills.
A quarter of those who had a problem with a supplier admitted they did nothing about the problems. Of those, 44% thought that complaining would make no difference; 28% felt the problem wasn’t serious enough; and 23% though it was too much hassle. For many of us that sounds all so familiar.
Of those who did complain, 12% abandoned their complaint and 8% switched suppliers entirely.
The Energy Ombudsman will look at complaints if the energy company has not resolved the issue within 8 weeks. Which? reveals nearly 57,000 complaints remained unresolved after 8 weeks. Given 95% of complaints are upheld and average payout is £125, that is a possible £4 million of unclaimed cash.
Another interesting and again a lesson for us all, is that 90% of unresolved complaints do not make it to the Ombudsman. This was put down to lack of communication from the energy suppliers about the existence of the Ombudsman and in the case of two energy companies, their published complaints procedure does not clearly state the ombudsman service is free.
Finally, the highest customer satisfaction rating of 84% went to Good Energy, who supplies renewable electricity, though the prices are about 25% more than the cheapest tariff on the market. Npower received the worst customer score of 41%, its complaints handling was rated 11 out of 12.
Full report in the February 2012 edition of Which?
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