Utility Week

24 | 12TH - 18TH OCTOBER 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Customers T he pressure was on water compa- nies last month following a report from the Consumer Council for Water detailing household complaints to suppli- ers. Hot on the heels of this, the spotlight is now also firmly on energy suppliers in the wake of Ofgem's bi-yearly complaints handling survey. The key aim of the research, carried out on behalf of Ofgem by customer con- sultancy agency Quadrangle, is to measure complainants' satisfaction with the way their complaint has been handled. This includes establishing the extent to which satisfaction levels have changed since the last survey in 2016, identifying the key drivers of satisfac- tion and dissatisfaction, and recognising evi- dence of good practice and areas in need of improvement. Last month (27 September), the energy regulator revealed that in light of the report's findings it has opened compliance cases into First Utility, Ovo Energy and Utilita about their "poor handling" of customer complaints. All three suppliers acknowledged the report's findings and their commitment to continually reviewing and improving their complaint handling processes. A spokes- person for First Utility said: "It's right that Ofgem is holding the industry to account over customer service on behalf of consumers." Ofgem is also expanding recent compli- ance engagement on complaints handling performance with Scottish Power through a compliance case that includes the results of the survey. Despite avoiding these compliance issues, the other domestic suppliers surveyed – Brit- ish Gas, Npower, Utility Warehouse, SSE, EDF Energy, Eon and Co-operative Energy – will still be required to provide improvement plans on how they will deal with complaints and provide appropriate updates. Positive performance But the report isn't all doom and gloom for energy suppliers. The survey of more than 3,000 complaints found that satisfaction has improved since the last survey in 2016, with 32 per cent of domestic customers satisfied with how their complaint was dealt with, an increase of 5 percentage points on 2016 (27 per cent). Customers who lodged complaints with Npower and Scottish Power reported the greatest improvements in satisfaction com- pared with the last survey. Interestingly, both suppliers were the two worst perform- ers among the largest suppliers in 2016. This improvement, according to the report, shows the impact of the concerted efforts by those suppliers to improve complainants' experi- ence following the regulator's intervention in 2016. Ofgem chief executive Dermot Nolan insisted the regulator is ready to – and will – act against those suppliers who continue to fail their customers. "Although the level of satisfaction about complaint handling has increased over the past two years, it is still unacceptably low. Some suppliers need to be doing consider- ably more to get the basics right and provide a service their customers deserve," he said. Gillian Guy, chief executive at Citizens Advice, agreed that while some improve- ments have been made, energy suppliers still have a lot more work to do to when it comes to complaint handling processes. "Customers need to have confidence that when something goes wrong, their supplier will deal with it. [This survey] shows this isn't the case. While some improvements Analysis 46 32 38 45 39 18 15 19 15 18 12 12 13 12 11 13 20 19 16 20 10 20 11 12 12 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 56 37 38 49 47 14 17 14 19 14 12 11 11 11 11 8 20 23 14 17 8 14 13 6 11 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 Are complaints treated casually? Latest figures from Ofgem show that only a third of customers who make a complaint are happy with the response they get from their supplier. Nadine Buddoo reports. SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS COMPLAINTS DISTRIBUTION ACROSS SUPPLIERS DOMESTIC AND MICRO-BUSINESS SUPPLIERS OVERALL SATISFACTION WITH COMPLAINT HANDLING, 2010-2018 Which supplier did you make your complaint to? Bases: Domestic complainants (All: 3,080), Micro-business complainants (All: 703). Bases: Domestic (2018: 3,080; 2016: 3,049; 2014: 2,457; 2012: 2,769; 2010: 2,734), Micro-business (2018: 703; 2016: 468, 2014: 287; 2012: 256; 2010: 274). Taking everything into account, how satisfied are you overall with the way in which your com- plaint has been handled by [named supplier]? Eon Scottish Power British Gas SSE EDF Npower Utilita First Utility Ovo Co-op Utility Warehouse Largest suppliers Medium suppliers Opus Domestic Micro-business Domestic (%) Micro-business (%) Domestic (%) Micro-business (%) 19% 33% 18% 8% 15% 26% 14% 6% 13% 11% 9% 8% 6% 3% 2% 1% 1% 8% Very satisfied Quite satisfied Neither/nor Quite dissatisfied Very dissatisfied Don't know

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