The embattled supplier, which in December apologised to customers for poor service, received 253.1 complaints for every 100,000 customers between July and September 2013. That figure, weighted to reflect the seriousness of the complaint, had risen by 25 per cent since the previous quarter, according to figures published by Consumer Futures on Wednesday.
Audrey Gallacher, director of energy at the watchdog, said the company’s worsening performance was “wholly unacceptable” and called on Ofgem to monitor Npower closely.
The latest results follow months of grappling by Npower with a new system that has generated inaccurate bills. Npower has committed to make sure no customer is left out of pocket as a result of the problems.
Roger Hattam, Npower director of domestic retail, said: “Last year, we apologised to our customers for the service issues they may have faced, following the installation of a new billing system. I know that we’ve let many of our domestic customers down and I want to apologise personally for this and promise that they will not lose out financially as a direct result of these issues.
“We’re working on these issues as top priority and, while we still have a long way to go, we’re making good progress. Our customers deserve to get the best service possible and this is my commitment to them.”
When he took the top job in January 2013, chief executive Paul Massara staked his reputation on getting Npower to the top of the customer satisfaction charts by 2015.
SSE was the least complained-about big six company, scoring 32.3. It was followed by Scottish Power on 46.2, British Gas on 55.0 and Eon on 61.8. The second worst-placed company, EDF Energy, on 74.2 had fewer than a third the complaints received by Npower.