Complaints to be taken more seriously by energy suppliers
February 9, 2008
Energy suppliers across the UK are being warned that they need to take customer complaints more seriously, with the consumer watchdog Energywatch claiming that it takes the UK’s energy suppliers too long to deal with a customer complaint. The consumer body also added that it took energy firms an average of seven months to resolve some issues, and that this was resulting in dissatisfaction levels rocketing to 97%.
Energywatch has now appealed to the energy regulator Ofgem to make the suppliers meet certain basic standards. Energywatch recently carried out a survey of 1100 people who had contacted its helpline last year. The results showed that in the vast majority of cases suppliers had failed to meet standards and had failed to deliver, leaving the customer feeling let down and dissatisfied.
One Energywatch official stated: “Everything is designed to put consumers off. When consumers have a problem they need to be able to make effective complaints and get the problem sorted out.” Officials from Energywatch have acknowledged that some progress has been made with the issue but state that there is still a lot to be done in order to convince consumers that their complaints and problems would be resolved quickly.
The Energy Retail Association said that it was not surprised that most of the consumers that called Energwatch were not happy with their supplier. However, officials from the ERA said: “A more significant statistic is the 70% drop in complaints Energywatch has recorded over the past five years in all areas, including doorstep sales, switching and billing.”
Officials added: “The industry has already established the Energy Supply Ombudsman scheme, a billing code, a code of practice for doorstep sales and a set of principles on complaint handling to which all suppliers subscribe.”
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