Our annual survey looking at how customers rate the UK’s 100 biggest brands was pretty grim reading for the energy industry.
We asked 3,500 consumers which companies ranked highest for customer service and those who could do with pulling their socks up. After coming second bottom last year, Scottish Power had the lowest rating with a customer score of 59 per cent, just ahead of Npower with 61 per cent. Both companies got just two stars for making people feel valued as a customer, for knowledge of product or service and for helpfulness of staff.
The average score for the energy sector was 68 per cent – the lowest of the markets we looked at – and all of the big six were in the bottom half of the table. Eon was joint 87th with a score of 70 per cent; EDF and British Gas were joint 73rd (71 per cent) and SSE was top of the big six with 74 per cent (joint 51st).
With the market being investigated by the CMA, we believe long-suffering energy customers deserve better. People told us they were fed up with energy suppliers falling down on basics such as leaving them hanging on the phone and not billing them correctly.
The vast majority of consumers feel customer service is important when deciding which companies to use, and 88 per cent say that poor service puts them off using a brand again.
With smaller suppliers gaining market share there is a clear incentive for their bigger rivals to up their game and make customers smile, not seethe.
Richard Lloyd, executive director, Which?