Customer service has never been a top priority for energy suppliers. After all, you need energy, and the majority of the large suppliers’ are controlled by one group – so if you switch, chances are you’ll be rolling the same pockets. But just how bad the state of customer service is in the industry has never been fully known, until now.

Ofgem has released damning findings in a new report, findings which brand the handling of customer complaints as “frankly awful”. It has found that almost half of customers are dissatisfied with how complaints are handled and that on average, customers have to contact their supplier SIX TIMES before a complaint is resolved. If you have ever contacted your energy company on a customer service contact number, chances are you will have experienced this.

Customer service on the telephone is one of the largest areas of concern with regard to the energy industry.

Dermot Nolan, Ofgem chief executive, said: “These satisfaction scores are frankly awful. Almost all energy suppliers need to improve their complaints handling as a matter of urgency.

“There are real business benefits to good complaints handling schemes, and it shouldn’t need a regulator to tell companies about the importance of this.

“Suppliers must now tell their customers what steps they will be taking to put things right. We are already formally investigating npower about complaints handling and other customer service issues, and this should send a strong signal to all suppliers that, where necessary, we will take action.”

Source: This is Money and The Telegraph. Image credit.