The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Victoria Smith
SSE Energy Services and Utilita have the worst overall customer service of any energy firm, according to charity Citizens Advice – though no company scores higher than 3.65 out of 5 stars.
Earlier this week energy firms were ordered to improve customer service by regulator Ofgem, especially for vulnerable customers in debt.
Ofgem is also ordering energy firms to publish Citizens’ Advice ratings of their customer service so the public can see how they compare on issues such as call wait times and quality of responses.
But that Citizens Advice data is already available, and the details are revealing.
| Energy firm | Stars out of five |
|---|---|
| SSE Energy Services | 1.83 |
| Utilita | 1.9 |
| Boost Power | 2.38 |
| British Gas | 2.45 |
| E | 2.63 |
| Good Energy | 2.75 |
| Utility Warehouse | 2.75 |
| So Energy | 2.8 |
| E.On Energy | 2.85 |
| Bulb Energy | 2.85 |
| Ovo Energy | 2.9 |
| Scottish Power | 3.1 |
| Co-Operative Power | 3.1 |
| Affect Energy | 3.1 |
| Octopus Energy | 3.3 |
| Ecotricity | 3.3 |
| EDF Energy | 3.45 |
| Shell Energy | 3.5 |
| Outfox the Market | 3.65 |
| Source: Citizens Advice | |
Citizens Advice compared energy firms on criteria such as number of complaints, ease of contact, clear bills, ease of switching and customer guarantees, then gave each a mark out of five.
SSE Energy Services came lowest in the overall ranking, with 1.83 stars, followed by Utilita with 1.9, for the latest figures of April to June 2023.
Citizens Advice found that SSE Energy Services had 142.7 complaints per 10,000 customers in the period, or 1.4 per cent of its customers. Its average call centre wait time was 3 minutes 11 seconds and 11.1 per cent of customers had at least one wrong bill.
Meanwhile Utilita had 170.5 complaints per 10,000 customers, a call wait time of 3 minutes 43 seconds and 6.9 per cent of customers got wrong bills.
The best energy firm for customer service, Outfox the Market, was scored 3.65 stars.
Outfox the Market had 21.8 complaints for every 10,000 customers, call wait times of 51 seconds and 0.6 per cent of customers reported getting a wrong bill.
SSE Energy Services is now owned by Ovo after an acquisition deal in 2019.
A Utilita spokesperson said: ‘Yet again, the Citizens Advice Star Rating fails to reflect neither the unique nature of our business nor the service our customers receive.
‘Utilita is unlike any other UK energy supplier. As a Smart+ Pay As You Go specialist, we serve some of the UK’s hardest pressed households, who tend to use Citizens Advice services more than your average credit customer.
‘We also have issues with their approach to recording complaints which classes “contacts” made to them by our customers as “complaints”, regardless of whether we are at fault. Until the rankings recognise these important points, they will not provide a representative picture.’
