- Energy suppliers are being asked to make public their customer service rankings
- But Citizens Advice data shows that no company gets even four out of five stars
According to the charity Citizens Advice, SSE Energy Services and Utilita have the worst customer service of any energy company, although no company scores higher than 3.65 out of 5 stars.
Earlier this week, energy companies were instructed by regulator Ofgem to improve customer service, especially for vulnerable customers with debts.
Ofgem is also instructing energy companies to publish Citizen’ Advice ratings of their customer service so the public can see how they compare on things like call waiting times and the quality of responses.
But that Citizens Advice data is already available and the details are revealing.
| Energy company | Stars out of five |
|---|---|
| SSE Energy Services | 1.83 |
| Useful | 1.9 |
| Increase the power | 2.38 |
| British gas | 2.45 |
| E | 2.63 |
| Good energy | 2.75 |
| Useful warehouse | 2.75 |
| So energy | 2.8 |
| E.About energy | 2.85 |
| Sphere energy | 2.85 |
| Ovo energy | 2.9 |
| Scottish power | 3.1 |
| Cooperative power | 3.1 |
| Affect energy | 3.1 |
| Octopus energy | 3.3 |
| Ecotricity | 3.3 |
| EDF energy | 3.45 |
| Shell energy | 3.5 |
| Outsmart the market | 3.65 |
| Source: Citizen Advice | |
Citizens Advice compared energy companies on criteria such as number of complaints, ease of contact, clear bills, ease of switching and customer guarantees, and then gave each a mark out of five.
SSE Energy Services came lowest in the overall rankings with 1.83 stars, followed by Utilita with 1.9, for the latest figures from 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 percent of its customers. The average wait time in the call center was 3 minutes and 11 seconds and 11.1 percent of customers had at least one incorrect invoice.
Meanwhile, Utilita had 170.5 complaints per 10,000 customers, a wait time of 3 minutes and 43 seconds and 6.9 percent of customers received incorrect bills.
The top energy company for customer service, Outfox the Market, received a score of 3.65 stars.
Outfox the Market had 21.8 complaints per 10,000 customers, call waiting times of 51 seconds and 0.6 percent of customers indicated that they had received an incorrect invoice.
SSE Energy Services is now owned by Ovo following an acquisition deal in 2019.
A spokesperson for Utilita said: ‘Once again the Citizens Advice Star Rating reflects neither the unique nature of our business nor the service our customers receive.
‘Utilita is different from all other British energy suppliers. As a Smart+ Pay As You Go specialist, we serve some of the worst affected households in the UK, who use Citizen Advice services more often than the average credit customer.
‘We also have issues with their approach to recording complaints, which classifies ‘contacts’ of our customers as ‘complaints’ regardless of whether we are at fault. As long as the rankings do not recognize these important points, they cannot provide a representative picture.’
Ovo does not wish to comment on behalf of SSE Energy Services.