Recent revelations from energy satisfaction survey
The big six energy firms in the UK have faced controversy for quite some time, with problems relating to customers service and billing, inaccurate prices, and of course in relation to the huge price hikes enforced, with two rounds of price increases having taken effect over the space of this year. Many households are facing fuel poverty, with officials claiming that since the start of this year gas bills have increased by over 50% and electricity bills by close to 30%.
Since the summer the price of a barrel of crude oil has fallen by almost 50%, and with this in mind campaign officials and the government have been calling on the energy giants to cut bills over the coming weeks. Petrol companies have already slashed petrol prices following the drop in oil prices. However, energy firms have said that the price of wholesale energy is still high, and therefore they cannot cut the cost of energy usage in response to the drop in the price of crude oil.
A recent survey was carried out into satisfaction levels amongst consumers when it came to the energy firms, and the research was carried out by price comparison site uswitch.com, which polled 5465 consumers. The results of the survey showed that only 45% of consumers thought that energy firms offered value for money. One uswitch official said: “Price rises were never going to be a vote winner, but this year’s increases have hit people exceptionally hard, and inevitably it has damaged their perception of the industry.”
The big six energy firms, Scottish Power, Npower, EDF, British Gas, Scottish & Southern, and E.On, are represented by the Energy Retail Association, and a spokesperson from the association claimed that consumer complaints relating to energy firms had been falling month on month.
She also said: “Customer service is an issue that all energy companies take exceptionally seriously, our competitive market means that customers make decisions to switch supplier based on more than just price differentials. The survey highlights this and is a useful indicator of where individual suppliers need to improve.”
The satisfaction tables from the survey showed that NPower had come in at the bottom, and an official from the energy firm said: “We are expanding our call centres, which are all UK-based, and have recruited an additional 300 people across the whole of our customer services operations this year. We are also investing around £200m in our systems, which will dramatically help improve the service customers receive.”
In the meantime the energy regulator, Ofgem, has expressed concern that energy firms are not giving all consumers an equal chance of being able to access the best deals.
Tags: satisfaction, Consumer Focus, energy prices, satisfaction tables, petrol, oil, energyOne Ofgem official recently said: “Initial findings from our energy market probe give us grounds to demand that companies end practices that hinder customers, especially the vulnerable, from getting the best deal. If they fail to satisfy our requirements voluntarily, then we can move to a Competition Commission reference.”
