League table reveals ‘huge gulf’ in customer service

A quarter of energy firms are failing to score even half marks in the latest Citizens Advice customer service league table, published today (25 June).

The league table rates suppliers against a number of factors, including the number of complaints, call waiting times and how easy it is to switch before awarding them an aggregate score out of five for the first three months of 2019.

The latest set of results show SSE topped the table between January and March with a score of 4.6, closely followed by Affect Energy with a score of 4.5 and Breeze Energy with 4.45.

Nabuh Energy is at the bottom of the table with a score of 1.65, followed by Eversmart Energy and Utilita, who both scored 1.8.

A total of 10 energy companies scored less than 2.5 stars, which is a quarter of all the suppliers rated.

The ratings come as tighter new regulations are about to be introduced for firms who want to set up as energy suppliers.

Ten domestic suppliers have gone bust in the last 18 months. Three of these were in the first quarter of the year, affecting nearly 300,000 customers.

“Today’s rankings continue to show a number of firms struggling to deliver acceptable standards of customer service,” said Citizens Advice chief executive, Gillian Guy.

“The new rules which come into force next month will oversee new firms setting up as energy suppliers to make sure they’re fully prepared.

“But there also needs to be stricter ongoing requirements and monitoring to tackle existing companies who are not serving their customers well,” added Guy.

“The energy supply market is not the free-for-all it once was. But there is still a big gap between those firms who provide excellent customer service, and a significant proportion who are letting consumers down.”

The managing director of SSE Energy Services, Tony Keeling added: “The league table shows the huge gulf in service on offer from energy suppliers and that standards in some cases are falling well short of what customers should expect.

“We work hard to look after our customers and, having outperformed all 40 other suppliers, we’ve shown that – if you want more than just a cheap price – smaller doesn’t always mean better when it comes to choosing your energy supplier.”

While the chief executive at the Energy Ombudsman, Matthew Vickers, said: “It’s worrying that so many suppliers are receiving poor ratings for customer service.

“Our own complaints data reinforces the picture of an energy market that is very much split, with some firms providing excellent service and others causing significant and unacceptable levels of consumer detriment.”

Full league table: