UK's Ofgem Says Intervening to Improve How Energy Suppliers Handle Complaints
September 27 2018 - 2:56AM
Dow Jones News
By Carlo Martuscelli
The U.K.'s energy regulator said it has taken action over the
way a number of energy suppliers handle complaints.
Ofgem said Thursday that it opened compliance cases with First
Utility Ltd., Ovo Energy and Utilita over their poor handling of
customer complaints after carrying out a survey on how suppliers
deal with customer grievances. It is also expanding an already
existing case with ScottishPower.
The regulator said it is requiring all the other domestic energy
suppliers included in the survey to submit plans detailing how they
will improve their complaint-handling procedures. Among the
suppliers are SSE PLC (SSE.LN), E.ON SE (EOAN.XE), British Gas,
Npower, Utility Warehouse, EDF Energy and Co-operative Energy.
The survey found that while customer satisfaction rates improved
since the last poll in 2016, overall, more customers are
dissatisfied than satisfied over how their complaints were
handled.
"The main contributors to high levels of dissatisfaction were
the length of time taken to resolve the issue, not being kept up to
date with the progress of the complaint and suppliers not providing
complainants with a clear view of how long the resolution will
take," Ofgem said.
Write to Carlo Martuscelli at carlo.martuscelli@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 27, 2018 02:41 ET (06:41 GMT)
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