Ofgem to publish Big Six energy supplier complaint figures
Regulator Ofgem is to publish quarterly figures showing how effectively the major energy companies are resolving customer complaints.
Ofgem is to begin publishing the complaints figures of the Big Six energy suppliers.
The energy regulator will publish the figures each quarter so that customers can easily compare different suppliers based on how effective they are at handling complaints.
Numbers will appear on Ofgem’s Supplier Performance on Consumer Complaints webpage. The figures from January-September 2014 are there along with complaint figures from 2013.
Following a customer survey in September, Ofgem has demanded improvement in the complaints handling processes of energy companies. The survey highlighted that half of all households and small businesses were not satisfied with the way their provider handled their complaint.
Aside from individual judgements, Ofgem has ordered suppliers to resolve complaints more quickly and publish how they intend to improve their complaint handling procedure. They’ve also been told to publish an independent audit of their process for closing complaints by the end of this month.
The regulator will bring forward the next survey and then decide whether further action is needed.
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More complaints than ever
Around 5.5 million complaints were made against the Big Six energy suppliers in 2013, and with almost 4.9 million already made from January to September this year Ofgem is confident that the number of complaints made in 2014 will exceed last year.
Npower received a massive 50% of the overall complaints last year, leaving ScottishPower in second place with 17%. Both of these providers have had serious warnings from Ofgem in recent months with the threat of banning their sales operations.
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Would publishing complaint figures make a difference to which energy provider you go with? Tell us in the comments below.
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