Ofgem has revealed the best and worst performing suppliers based on customer satisfaction, following a major consumer survey.
The energy regulator has updated the results of its latest Energy Satisfaction Survey, which it initially published last month, to include a supplier breakdown for the first time.
The report, which was commissioned by Ofgem and Citizens Advice, is based on a survey of more than 3,700 domestic energy consumers.
EDF Energy, Ovo and Scottish Power have all been highlighted as being below average for customer satisfaction.
While the average satisfaction rate was 69%, EDF and Ovo both scored 61%, while Scottish Power scored 62%.
Octopus meanwhile scored 84%, well above the industry average.
Meanwhile for customer service satisfaction, the average was 62% and Octopus again scored higher than average at 76%, while EDF (54%), Scottish Power (55%), and Ovo (57%) scored lower than average.
Key reasons cited for dissatisfaction with customer service include customers not being able to contact at the time they needed (37%), not feeling they were being listened to (34%) and it taking a long time to resolve the query (34%).
At Utility Week’s recent Customer Summit in Birmingham, Ofgem’s director general of retail and markets Tim Jarvis spoke about customer service, as well as trust in energy suppliers.
He said: “Cleary trust in the sector remains very low and when I talk to customers, you can see why because while there is lots of good practice in lots of places, it’s clearly not consistent enough. It takes a long time to build up trust and it takes very little to take it all away.
“When we’re starting from the point that we’re starting, the energy sector has got a long road to go on.”
“I remain an optimist…I’ve seen companies investing in their IT and their customer service…how we embed that culture into all the boardrooms of all the energy companies is crucial and clearly we have a role as regulator in how we do that,” he added.
Commenting on the results, an EDF spokesperson said: “The survey is based on data from 355 EDF customers, representing around 0.01% of our customer base. That said, we want all our customers to be satisfied with the service we provide and are continually working to improve, investing over 157,332 hours in training of customer service staff over the last year, and as such we are rated ‘excellent’ on TrustPilot.”
A Scottish Power spokesperson said: “We’ve made huge strides to improve and enhance our customer service, including offering a live chat facility from 7am to 11pm, 7 days a week to make it easier for our customers to contact us.
“We have worked tirelessly to get wait times down, with a Citizen’s Advice study finding we answered 98% of customer emails within a two-day period and our average speed of answering phone enquiries is under 110 seconds. We’re committed to continuing this work to ensure we offer the best customer service possible for our customers.”
Meanwhile Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy, said: “These results from Ofgem confirm what we see from many other places like Which?, TrustPilot and almost every other organisation that measures customer happiness.
“From the beginning, Octopus Energy has invested in technology, processes and people to deliver outstanding service at scale. And it’s great to see this reflected in the real-world experience of millions of customers.
“Our approach has been a case study for management consultants and thought-leaders from other industries, and we’ll never stop striving to improve.”