Energy companies under scrutiny from Ofgem following the “poor handling” of complaints have responded to the regulator’s decision to open compliance cases into them.
Although the level of satisfaction regarding complaint handling has increased since the last survey in 2016, it is still “unacceptably low” according to the regulator’s chief executive, Dermot Nolan.
Ofgem has revealed that First Utility, Ovo Energy, Utilita and Scottish Power are all subject to compliance cases.
A spokesperson for First Utility said: “It’s right that Ofgem is holding the industry to account over customer service on behalf of consumers. Its report highlights significant improvements made in our complaints handling performance over the past two years and we look forward to reassuring Ofgem as we continue that improvement.
“The vast majority of our customers are very happy – as our numerous customer service awards support – although we recognise that there are still some areas in which we could be better. We are constantly improving and we’re one of the few providers to embrace third party complaints resolution tools like Resolver to make it easier and more transparent for our customers.”
A spokesperson for Ovo Energy, said: “We are always open to improvements and are confident that through working with Ofgem we can continue to build on our extremely high standards and swift resolution of issues.
“We pride ourselves on great customer service and will be interested to receive the details of the customer responses from this survey, so that we can establish the reason for the scores.”
The report found that the proportion of customers who are dissatisfied (57 per cent) remains higher than those satisfied with how their complaint had been dealt with.
A Utilita spokesperson said: “Ofgem’s survey was conducted earlier this year and related to customer complaints dating back to November 2017.
“At that time we had already begun overhauling some of our processes as part of our on-going commitment to continuously monitor and improve them.
“We know we can always improve, and we will take on board any legitimate criticism. However, we are really pleased with the progress we have made this year and this has been borne out by more recent statistics from both the energy ombudsman and Citizens Advice.
“In fact, our complaints per 100,000 customers fell by 68 per cent between Q4 2017 and Q2 2018.”
Ofgem also said it is expanding recent compliance engagement on complaints handling performance with Scottish Power through a compliance case which includes the results of the survey.
A Scottish Power spokesperson said: “We are pleased the survey shows we are the most improved company for complaint handling satisfaction, but we know we still have further to go.
“We will continue to work with Ofgem as we rollout new complaint handling processes and training to further speed-up our progress. Meanwhile, our overall service levels continue to improve, as shown across a range of external surveys and scorecards.”
Other industry bodies have also commented on the opening of the compliance cases.
Gillian Guy, chief executive at Citizen’s Advice, said today’s announcement shows suppliers need to improve their processes for handling complaints “quickly”.
She added: “Customers need to have confidence that when something goes wrong, their supplier will deal with it. Today’s news shows this isn’t the case. While some improvements have been made, it’s simply not good enough that only a third of customers are happy with how their complaints are handled.”
Matthew Vickers, chief executive at the Energy Ombudsman, said although the report focused on large and medium-sized suppliers, customers of smaller suppliers should also be surveyed.
He said: “More than 40 per cent of complaints that come to us are about smaller suppliers, so including customers of these companies would give a more complete picture of the energy sector’s performance on complaint handling.
“One area of concern for us is that complainants are still given what the report calls ‘very little information’ about third-party solutions and alternative redress routes such as the Energy Ombudsman.
“Only 15 per cent of consumers with an unresolved complaint were sent a letter by their supplier referring them to us – the same proportion as two years ago.
“We would like this figure to be higher, because we feel it’s important that consumers are made aware of their options if and when a complaint can’t be resolved.”
The regulator stressed that the opening of these compliance cases does not imply it has made any findings about non-compliance by the suppliers.
Ofgem will report “in due course” on the findings of its compliance engagement.