Prepay energy customers who need additional support credit outside of traditional working hours are facing “significant detriment”, Citizens Advice has warned.
As such the consumer charity is calling for retailers to extend their opening hours, or even provide 24/7 assistance to those who need it.
Extended hours, such as between 7am–10pm, and 24/7 service were among a number of recent proposals by Ofgem to improve energy retailer standards and transparency.
The charity said in response that there is a “clear case” for suppliers to extend their opening hours, citing the difficulties faced by those on traditional prepayment meters (PPM) in particular.
“We know that existing arrangements for providing support to consumers are not sufficient. Consumers who need access to additional support credit face particular harm as a result of limited opening hours for customer service teams. There is therefore a clear case for the adoption of Option 1 – extended opening hours. This must include Bank Holidays as well as Sundays,” it said.
It further stated that PPM customers who need a continuous supply of energy, such as for medical equipment, will need access to additional support credit “by some means round the clock”.
“We hope that supplier submissions in response to this consultation will include data on what time their customers run out of credit to guide the decision – particularly considering providing a service to keep consumers in vulnerable circumstances on supply between 10pm and 7am,” it added.
In its consultation Ofgem proposed that the freephone number is easy to locate, such as by being featured on a main website/app or is prominent on a bill.
Citizens Advice said this was an area where suppliers may need more direction. It further recommended that such reviews are made a regular part of the regulator’s monitoring processes.
“Ofgem’s provision of advice on the location of telephone numbers last year provided clarity of their expectations to energy suppliers and it is disappointing to see that this has not yet been adopted more widely by industry,” it added.