Utility Week

Customers UTILITY WEEK | 28TH JUNE - 4TH JULY 2019 | 25 Progress made by the water industry in reducing waste from plastic bottles has been praised as it was announced that the number of refill stations across the UK has hit 20,000. Trade body Water UK said National Refill Day on 19 June highlighted the huge progress made by the sector since the campaign was launched last year, with all the major water WATER High street giants join Refill campaign as stations exceed 20,000 companies now supporting it – up from the inaugural three. The campaign has been given a boost by the support of high street chains Greggs, Pret and Sweaty Betty, which have all agreed to provide free drinking water. The Refill initiative is projected to have stopped more than 100 million single-use bot- tles from becoming waste by the end of 2019. Rae Stewart, director of corporate affairs at Water UK, told Utility Week the past year had seen companies across the sector make meaningful in-roads in engaging with consumers over the damage done by single-use plastic bottles. He said: "We set out our ambition to have tens of thou- sands of refill stations across the country, and to have hit 20,000 This week Table reveals 'gulf ' in customer service Ten energy firms scored less than 2.5 stars – a quarter of the suppliers rated by Citizens Advice A quarter of energy firms are failing to score even half marks in the latest Citizens Advice customer service league table, published on 25 June. The league table rates suppli- ers against a number of factors – including the number of com- plaints, call waiting times and how easy it is to switch – before awarding them an aggre- gate score out of five for the first three months of 2019. The latest results show SSE topped the table for January to March, with a score of 4.6, closely followed by Affect Energy with 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. Ten 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 past 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 require- ments and monitoring to tackle existing companies who are not serving their customers well," added Guy. The managing director of SSE Energy Services, Tony Keeling, added: "The league table shows the huge gulf in service on offer from energy suppliers." JH ENERGY Avro rectifies smart meter rollout breach Avro Energy is free to take on new customers aœer it became a Data Communications Company (DCC) user and rectified its smart meter rollout requirement breach. Ofgem has been in discus- sions with the challenger sup- plier for several months since it discovered Avro was not meeting its licence conditions. The regulator issued a final order to Avro on 3 April, which required it to become a DCC user no later than 25 July in order to avoid a customer ban. Ofgem has now confirmed it "received satisfactory evidence" from the Smart Energy Code Administrator and Secretariat on 14 June, which outlined Avro had completed "all the required steps" and met the final order. Avro is "able to acquire new customers and add new cus- tomer accounts by upgrading to dual fuel", Ofgem revealed. All suppliers were required to become DCC users by 25 November 2017 to help drive the installation of next genera- tion SMETS2 meters. The latest figures show more than 1.2 mil- lion SMETS2 devices are now on the network. PAN-UTILITY Watchdog may get sharper teeth Utility companies could be fined by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) if consumers are harmed by company prac- tice, under proposed powers to be handed to the watchdog. The government is consider- ing granting new powers to the CMA to fine companies that breach competition law without the need to go to court. The Department for Busi- ness, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said the reforms would allow the competition watchdog to intervene earlier and more quickly, creating "a powerful deterrent to firms that are harming consumers with misleading claims, unfair terms and conditions, and hard-to-exit contracts". Prime minister Theresa May said: "The system as it stands not only lets consumers down but it also lets down the vast majority of businesses who play by the rules. "It is high time this came to an end and we are confirming our intention to give much stronger powers to the CMA." A spokesperson for BEIS said the proposals will be subject to a consultation, but could be expected to impact both the water and energy sectors. Andrea Coscelli, chief execu- tive of the CMA, said: "We've been calling for legislation so we can act rapidly on behalf of people who are being ripped off. "The response from the government is a very welcome step – it is absolutely important that we are able to intervene and penalise businesses when we find they are in the wrong." Guy: a number of firms are 'struggling' in the first year is a fantastic achievement." Stewart highlighted research commissioned as part of the campaign that showed the change in public attitudes towards single-use plastic. The OnePoll survey showed that three out of four respondents believe society should move towards single-use plastic being socially unacceptable.

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