The charity says a key benefit of smart meters will be the elimination of estimated bills, but is warning that suppliers risk undermining the smart meter rollout unless they “have adequate systems and processes in place.”
It says that Ofgem should review why the pressure of competition and regulatory requirements have failed to bring down billing problems and, depending on the outcome, introduce new incentives and harsher penalties for those who fail to provide adequate service.
Citizens Advice said around 20 percent of British households complain to their energy provider every year, with the biggest source being billing problems resulting from suppliers changing billing systems.
This results in major customer service failures as well as delayed bills and the build-up of debts.
Citizens Advice has published a report tracking billing problems over the last ten years which says progress on billing performance is “patchy” and still costs suppliers £125 million a year to handle, something Citizens Advice calls “astonishing”.
Citizens Advice’s chief executive Gillian Guy said: “Bad billing systems have plagued energy customers for years.”
“Billing people on time, and for the right sums of money, is essential if the market is to work. It is wholly unacceptable that suppliers have been getting it so wrong for so long.”
“The introduction of smart meters can significantly improve consumers’ experience – the responsibility is now on suppliers to get it right and for Ofgem to bring forward new protections if things go wrong.”
The charity is also calling on ofgem to work with customers to simplify bills and introduce regulations that would protect customers by limiting backbilling to three months for smart meter customers.
In May energy supplier Scottish Power received the most complaints by an energy company ever in the last quarter of 2014 due to a new billing system which saw complaints rise by 488 percent.