Consumer complaints to the Big Six energy companies soar to a new high
- The Big Six energy companies have received a total of 1.7 million consumer complaints in the first quarter of 2014 alone, the highest number received in one single quarter since records began in 2012
- This is up from 1.48 million for the same period last year, which is a staggering 15% increase in complaints.
- Since October 2012, the biggest energy companies (British Gas, EDF Energy, E.On, Npower, Scottish Power and SSE) that account for 95% of the market have published data showing how many complaints they’ve received from customers.
- Which? has been tracking these complaint statistics. In February this year we reported that in 1st January to 31st December 2013 the Big Six companies received more than 5.5 million complaints (5,579,665 in total).
- For the first quarter of 2014 we found that Npower received 83 complaints for every 1000 customers, the highest number of complaints. In contrast Scottish Power received the fewest complaints, 13 for every 1000 customers
- The number of complaints received by both SSE and British Gas has doubled over the past six months, joining Eon at around 30 complaints per 1,000 customers
- Which? is campaigning to Fix The Big Six, calling for radical reforms from the Government, regulator and the suppliers
Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd said:
“Yet again millions of customers are being let down by poor service from the Big Six energy companies. This has to change.
“If they want to improve the low level of consumer trust in the energy market, suppliers must up their game now, rather than wait for the results of a competition review.”
Notes to editors:
- From 1st January – 31st March 2014 the Big Six companies received a total of 1,703,768 complaints, this is up from a total of 1,475,199 complaints for the same period last year
- Full results for the companies are below:
| Energy companies complaints data | ||||
| Q1-20131 Jan – 31 Mar 2013Total for quarter: 1475199 | ||||
| Company | complaints received per 1,000 accounts | Total complaints received | % resolved on same or next working day | % resolved within 8 weeks |
| Scottish Power |
15.19 |
79542 |
63% |
98% |
| SSE |
13.76 |
113203 |
74.59% |
96.02% |
| British Gas |
22.95 |
357887 |
78.80% |
95.90% |
| EON |
31.7 |
234491 |
92.70% |
97.70% |
| Npower |
49.18 |
269629 |
87.40% |
97.23% |
| EDF Energy |
77.84 |
420447 |
90.80% |
96.79% |
| Q1 2014 1 Jan – 31 March 2014Total for quarter: 1703768 | ||||
| Company | complaints received per 1,000 accounts | Total complaints received | % resolved on same or next working day | % resolved within 8 weeks |
| Scottish Power |
13.57 |
70454 |
50% |
93.7% |
| SSE |
27.6 |
217253 |
82.11% |
96.91% |
| British Gas |
30.84 |
462334 |
79.50% |
96.20% |
| EON |
32.76 |
239440 |
87.80% |
94.20% |
| Npower |
83.03 |
450178 |
86.12% |
94.13% |
| EDF Energy |
46.14 |
264109 |
84.00% |
97.00% |
3.
4. You can find more information about the complaints data that Ofgem asks the Big Six energy companies to provide and links to the top 5 reasons for complaints for each here
Press Release: Consumer, Energy, government, Which?