Citizens Advice has urged action from Ofgem following the results of its quarterly customer service review of energy suppliers.
Small firm So Energy topped the rankings with a near-perfect 4.8 star rating, with only 23.1 complaints per 100,000 customers.
By comparison, Iresa’s mammoth 9,000 complaints per 100,000 placed it at the bottom of the 32 suppliers.
Ofgem had placed a ban on the firm taking on new customers in March, which was supposed to last for three months but has been extended due to a lack of of progress.
Iresa’s customers have put up with “inaccurate billing, long phone queues and even being blocked from switching to a new supplier.” according to Gillian Guy, CEO of Citizens Advice.
“Iresa continues to let its customers down by failing to provide a level of service its customers deserve,” said Dermot Nolan, Ofgem chief executive.
Furthermore, the small firm has been prevented from taking one-off payments and from increasing direct debits.
Citizens Advice said that previously a customer received a one-off request for a payment of £1,000, whilst another had been unable to contact the firm despite trying for more than three months.
Big Six
Four of the Big Six energy suppliers (E.ON UK, ScottishPower, Npower and EDF energy), a group which controls over 80% of the market, had lacklustre customer service rankings in the 3 star range. SSE and British Gas scored around 4 stars.
The review established the ranking based on the number of complaints to third parties, the accuracy and timeliness of billing, the average call centre waiting time and the number of switches which occur within the standard 3-week period.
The record number of complaints accompany record numbers of customers switching suppliers. In June, nearly half a million customers switched, which is a 13% increase from May.
Small suppliers, big differences
Currently, Ofgem’s ‘Confidence Code’ means all energy companies on the market must be listed by all accredited price comparison websites. Thisismoney.co.uk explains that often new energy companies are featured as the cheapest but may not be able to cope with large customer influxes.
For instance, early this year the firm Future Energy collapsed, while in 2016 GB Energy went bust.
Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice urged that new legislation needs to “make it easier to stop unprepared suppliers from entering the market, and take poorly performing companies out of the market faster”.
Small energy firms are able to offer very cheap fixed-rate energy tariffs, but are often a mixed bag, both topping and trailing behind in the league tables.
SSE performed best of the big six, but is currently merging with the second worst, npower.
Citizens Advice had dismissed concerns that the SSE and Npower merger deal will reduce competition due to the volume of suppliers in the market, according to an article on Monday.
However, with Ofgem’s new licensing rules under review, it is likely that the number of small firms will reduce in time.
