Energy firms told to sharpen up

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Energy firms are being told by a regulator to improve the way they deal with complaints from customers.

Fewer than one in four customers were satisfied with the way gripes were dealt with, said a poll for Ofgem.

Issues included suppliers failing to return calls and the attitude of staff. One supplier - EDF Energy - was accused of not recording complaints properly.

EDF Energy said it had updated its training and was confident that its complaints were now managed suitably.

Satisfaction levels

Customers were also unhappy about the number of times they had to make calls of complaint to their energy supplier, and that the company often claimed a problem had been resolved when - in their view - it had not.

SATISFACTION LEVELS Scottish and Southern Energy: 29%E.On: 29%Scottish Power: 24%Centrica: 20%EDF Energy: 20%Npower: 16% <i>Source: Ofgem</i>

The survey, of 2,708 customers, found that the big six energy companies had updated their grievance-handling systems, but there were still low levels of customer satisfaction - especially about bills and prices.

Of the big six, Scottish and Southern Energy and E.On had the highest approval rating of 29%. This was calculated from the proportion of customers who said they were satisfied with the way their complaint was dealt with.

They were followed by Scottish Power (24%), Centrica (20%) - which owns British Gas, EDF Energy (20%) and Npower (16%).

Npower, which came bottom of the poll, said that it had completely revised the way it handled complaints, including full staff training.

"We are disappointed with the audit results but they were not unexpected. During the audit we were dealing with a significant programme of work to our billing systems to dramatically improve our customer service," said an Npower spokeswoman.

"With a programme of this scale periods of disruption are inevitable, but we are confident that these changes will result in much improved customer satisfaction."

Ofgem chief executive Alistair Buchanan said he expected to see improvements from all suppliers when complaints systems were looked at again next year.

"It is in suppliers' best interests to ensure that the service they provide is of a high standard," he said.

"This is clearly an opportunity for them to raise the bar to retain existing customers and attract new ones."

'Disruption'

Ofgem demands that energy suppliers publish details about the number of complaints they receive, so customers can use the information when choosing their supplier.

The Ofgem chief executive is telling the energy companies to improve

The regulator said a separate audit of this information "raised concerns" as to whether EDF Energy was properly recording all its complaints.

It will start a formal investigation into EDF Energy imminently into whether staff have been trained properly in spotting and recording complaints. No timescale has been set for the investigation.

A spokesman for EDF Energy said Ofgem first raised the issue in January prompting a "robust action plan" to resolve it.

The company set up workshops for staff and changed its training programme to ensure that complaints were recorded in the way that Ofgem stipulated.

"We are now confident that all complaints are managed according to Ofgem's guidelines," he said.

Choice

In the Ofgem poll, some 15% of domestic customers who made complaints said they had, or were going to change, their supplier.

Garry Felgate, chief executive of the Energy Retail Association - which represents the energy suppliers - said: "Energy suppliers take any complaint extremely seriously.

"The new complaint-handling arrangements were put in place less than a year ago and we have worked closely with Ofgem and consumer organisations to ensure that the process works in customers' best interests."

In March, Ofgem told the energy firms to make monthly direct debit demands clear to customers.

It said suppliers were not systematically getting bills wrong but should make charges more transparent, including:

<ul class="bulletList" ><li>Explaining when refunds would be given when too much was charged </li><li>Giving consumers more choice over how their credit was used or repaid </li><li>Adjusting direct debit demands regularly to avoid debt build-ups </li><li>Encouraging customers to provide up-to-date meter readings. </li></ul>

If they fail to do so, Ofgem is threatening to make the rules a condition of companies' licences, leading to fines if they break the rules.