Our complaints performance
We’re on a mission to make energy better, and we take pride in offering great customer service. 75% of customers who contacted us in 2023 were “satisfied” or “extremely satisfied” with our service. And we’re now rated “Excellent” on Trustpilot, with 4.3 stars. Over 80% of our reviews on Trustpilot are 4 or 5 stars.
We also know there’s always room to do more. That’s why we regularly review the feedback we get from customers about how we’re doing – and where we can improve. Below are some of the areas we’ve been told we could improve in, and what we’re doing about it.
Every quarter, we review and publish data on all the complaints we’ve had as a business. You can see our reporting from October to December 2023 below.
In summary: how we did last quarter
Complaints received
| Time period | Total complaints received | Complaints per 100k customers |
|---|---|---|
| October to December 2023 | 135,601 | 2,228 |
| July to September 2023 | 124,363 | 2,035 |
| April to June 2023 | 80,110 | 1,489 |
| January to March 2023 | 44,972 | 945 |
Complaints resolved
| Time period | Total complaints resolved | Complaints per 100k customers |
|---|---|---|
| October to December 2023 | 142,184 | 2,336 |
| July to September 2023 | 109,509 | 1,792 |
| April to June 2023 | 65,245 | 1,213 |
| January to March 2023 | 36,861 | 774 |
Time to resolve complaints
| Time period | By end of next working day | Within 8 weeks |
|---|---|---|
| October to December 2023 | 54.0% | 83.5% |
| July to September 2023 | 78.5% | 96.6% |
| April to June 2023 | 83.3% | 96.8% |
| January to March 2023 | 69.1% | 90.5% |
Making things better
It’s important to us that customers see how we’re looking to improve. Each quarter, we publish some of the reasons for the complaints we've had, and what we're doing to make things better.
1. Customer Service
Reasons for complaints
Customer service related complaints cover a number of issues. From wait times, to how quickly our teams put things right when they go wrong. We can't always stop things going wrong, but the customer’s experience while we get them back on track is what counts. We’ve noticed that referring customers to other departments has sometimes caused frustration.
What we're doing to make things better
We know it's frustrating for customers when a complaint is passed to a different team. We’re investing in training to help our teams deal better with the issues customers contact us about. And we’re giving extra training to help them to decide when it’s best to refer more complex issues to a specialist team.
We’re also looking at more ways to help our advisors get access to specialist knowledge on live calls. This helps reduce the need to pass customers to different teams to get answers. When a customer does need to be referred to another team, we’ve introduced a system to make sure issues are sorted within a specific timeframe.
Finally, we’ve upskilled some of our complaint handlers to resolve more complex issues, which means we don’t need to pass as many accounts to other teams. This reduces the time it takes to fix things when they go wrong.
2. Billing and meter readings for customers with traditional meters
Reasons for complaints
By sending us regular meter readings, we can make sure you get accurate bills for the energy you use. We recommend switching to a smart meter if you can. They send us automatic readings, meaning more accurate bills.
Some customers without smart meters, or those who aren’t able to get one installed, have had issues with estimated bills. These include disputes over how much they’re using, or problems with a recent supplier switch.
What we're doing to make things better
We’re working hard to make the information about meter readings and energy use clearer on customers’ bills. We’ve started work on redesigning bills, based on feedback we’ve had.
We’re giving more help to advisors to explain why bills are on hold, or how the customer's final balance has been worked out.
And we’re introducing more ways to help customers without smart meters to read and send readings themselves.
If a customer doesn’t have a smart meter and isn’t able to send readings, we can arrange for our field team to visit their home.
3. Payment issues
Reasons for complaints
We want to make it as easy as possible for you to manage and pay your bills in a way that suits you. The simplest way to pay monthly is by Direct Debit.
We realise this isn’t always suitable for everyone. Payment-related complaints have included our Direct Debit policy, choice of alternative payment methods, and Pay As You Go customers not being able to top up.
Many customers are also continuing to struggle with the high cost of energy.
What we're doing to make things better
The ongoing high price of energy is making it difficult for many people to pay their energy bills. That’s why we’ve been looking for new ways to support customers in financial difficulty. We want to make sure we can help them get the right advice and support to help manage energy costs and payment plans.
We already had dedicated teams who help our customers with their energy bills, and tailor payment plans to make sure they’re affordable. We realised, though, that customers need to be able to access the same level of support online. As a result, we’ve set up a payment support tool. It helps our customers pay for their energy bills by making a one-off payment, or setting up a Direct Debit or payment plan. This spreads the cost of their energy to make it more manageable. Once customers give their financial information, the tool helps us find a payment plan that works for them.
We work with a number of expert partners such as StepChange and Money Advice Trust, who can give wider debt support. They help us assess what support customers need, which means we can put together more affordable and sustainable repayment plans. Our Customer Support Package also gives direct financial help for eligible customers struggling with their bills. Plus, we can give energy efficiency advice to help customers reduce their energy bills, such as getting thermostats or replacing inefficient fridges or freezers.
Keeping you updated
We’ve committed to updating this page every 3 months, so that we’re transparent about how we can do better for our customers. We can’t promise to always get it right. But we can promise that we’ll learn and improve.