Consumer Focus is today (Wednesday 25 July) publishing its quarterly energy complaint league table for the period January – March 2012.
The new figures show most energy suppliers have seen a slight fall in complaint levels. Complaints fell by an average of 7% in this period. This has resulted in ScottishPower increasing from a three-star to a four-star rating, while the other firms have retained their previous star-ratings. SSE maintains its position at the top of league table with the lowest ever weighted amount of complaints. EDF Energy remains at the bottom of the league table with a zero-rating, and is the only firm which has seen an increase in the weighted number of complaints it receives.
Audrey Gallacher, Director of Energy at Consumer Focus, said:
‘It is welcome to see a decrease in complaint levels. Suppliers have said they want to increase consumer trust in the industry so they need to build on this result and work towards achieving consistently good customer service. It is however disappointing to see yet another poor performance from EDF Energy over this quarter. The firm has made some big commitments to improve its performance and its customers will rightly expect to see it getting back on track on customer service.’1
Star ratings
| Supplier | Rating | Rating | Rating | Rating | Rating | Rating | Rating |
| Jan – Mar 2012 | Oct-Dec 11 | Jul-Sep 11 | Apr-Jun 11 | Jan-Mar 11 | Oct-Dec 10 | Jul-Sep 10 | |
| SSE | 5***** | 5***** | 5***** | 5***** | 4**** | 4**** | 4**** |
| British Gas | 4**** | 4**** | 4**** | 4**** | 4**** | 3*** | 3*** |
| ScottishPower | 4**** | 3*** | 3*** | 3*** | 2** | 2** | 2** |
| E.ON | 3*** | 3*** | 3*** | 4**** | 3*** | 2** | 3*** |
| npower | 3*** | 3*** | 2** | 3*** | 2** | 1* | 2** |
| EDF Energy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1* | 2** | 2** | 2** |
Weighted number of complaints per 100,000 customers
| Publication month |
Jul-12 |
Feb-12 |
Dec-11 | Aug-11 | Jun-11 | Mar-11 | Dec-10 |
| Quarter | (Jan-Mar 12) | (Oct-Dec 11) | (Jul-Sep 11) | (Apr-Jun 11) | (Jan-Mar 11) | (Oct-Dec 10) | (Jul-Sep 10) |
| British Gas |
58.2 |
60.6 |
64.5 |
55.2 |
74.4 |
83.8 |
89.2 |
| E.ON |
76.7 |
92.4 |
86.1 |
71.0 |
99.1 |
103.3 |
93.5 |
| EDF |
195.3 |
188.5 |
219.4 |
126.4 |
106.2 |
106.7 |
117.7 |
| npower |
89.0 |
97.8 |
102.3 |
82.4 |
111.5 |
133.5 |
121.4 |
| SSE |
35.4 |
40.6 |
41.1 |
36.3 |
58.0 |
72.4 |
53.4 |
| ScottishPower |
63.1 |
79.6 |
81.4 |
89.2 |
103.5 |
103.4 |
116.8 |
| Average |
77.0 |
82.7 |
86.4 |
68.8 |
86.3 |
95.2 |
93.0 |
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- These complaints figures are regularly updated by Consumer Focus, based on the most comprehensive energy complaints data available, and are published quarterly. The firms have been ranked on the number of complaints to Consumer Direct, Consumer Focus and the Energy Ombudsman in relation to their market share during the last quarter. The different types of complaint have been weighted to reflect their seriousness.
We give the weighted score as a proxy for national complaints. This gives a reliable estimate of the total number of complaints coming to all three groups plus direct to suppliers. We do not currently publish direct supplier complaints information as there have been historical issues with consistency in recording complaints. Consumer Focus are working with suppliers to enable the information to be incorporated into the model.
- See Consumer Focus’s website for more information or for further details on the complaint data, please contact the Consumer Focus press office on 020 7799 8004 or 8006.
- Please see EDF Energy’s Customer Commitments for further detail.
