Challenger brands dominate Top 5 star rating spots

*The full list of suppliers is at the bottom of this article

Citizens Advice’s latest star ratings table – for Q1 2020 – has revealed the former big six had their worst showing in the past two years, with challenger brands all taking the top five spots.

Domestic retailers are ranked quarterly according to how good their customer service is, including call centre waiting times, the number of complaints and customer guarantees.

In 2018 there were always at least two of the largest suppliers in the top five in each quarter, and at least one per quarter last year but SSE, which sold its customers to Ovo earlier this year, was the highest scoring in Q1 2020 and ranked in sixth place with a score of 3.85.

EDF Energy, the previous quarter’s top-ranked supplier, fell to tenth place with a score of 3.7.

Over the past year SSE has been the best large performer overall, but it too has fallen below the top five. Scottish Power is the worst ranked large supplier, with 15^th being its highest placing – in Q1 2019.

Overall, the number of complaints per 10,000 cutomers to third parties among these suppliers has increased since Q1 2019, with the exception of Npower.

A spokesperson for EDF Energy said it was disappointed to see the results of the latest rating. “We know there is always more that we can do so we’ll be looking at the results in more detail”, they added.

In the consumer charity’s latest ratings for Q1 2020, Igloo Energy took the top spot and was followed by Octopus-backed M&S Energy, Zebra Power, Avro and the consistently highly-performing So Energy.

First-placed Igloo is another supplier that has featured in the top 10 in every rating since Q1 2019.

Challenger brand Nabuh Energy ranked bottom, having been the worst ranked for all but one of the last five quarters.

Nabuh, which ranked second from bottom in Q4 2019, received an overall rating of 1.7 coming 41st out of 41 suppliers for Q1 2020.

According to the table the average call centre waiting time for Nabuh’s customers was almost six minutes, a stark contrast to Igloo Energy which topped the list with a 4.6 rating and an average call waiting time of 29 seconds.

Less than half (47 per cent) of Nabuh’s customers had an accurate bill at least once a year, while an average of 84 per 10,000 customers made complaints to third parties.

Last year it emerged Nabuh owed more than £870,000 in renewables obligation payments to regulator Ofgem. The regulator later revealed the supplier had made a partial payment.

Utility Week approached Nabuh Energy for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Ovo Energy was ranked 29th with a score of 2.75. This is an overall improvement of 0.2 stars compared to Q4 2019.

Meanwhile council-backed retailers Robin Hood Energy and Bristol Energy ranked 36th and 37th respectively, both receiving overall scores of 2.1. Both of these suppliers have called in advisors over the past few months.

In the case of Bristol Energy, it had the longest call centre waiting time of any supplier with an average of 9.03.

Both Robin Hood and Bristol Energy declined to comment when approached by Utility Week.