According to a recent survey conducted by uSwitch, 50% of energy consumers are unhappy with their energy supplier. As news goes, it’s hardly a surprising revelation, as more and more people struggle to keep on top of their heating and electricity bills.
In a year that has been riddled with soaring fuel bills and more and more households facing fuel poverty, the big names in the UK gas and electricity market – commonly known as the “Big Six” – were put under the spotlight by the price comparison website. While last year’s survey saw suppliers achieve all time highs – with 73% of customers satisfied with their overall service – this year the news was far from good.
Some 5,270 UK energy consumers completed the survey, which was conducted by YouGov online between 14-18 October 2011. Participants were asked to rate the energy firms in each of the following categories:
- Overall customer satisfaction
- Most likely to be recommended
- Value for money
- Best deal
- Customer service
- Billing services
- Meter services
- Online services
- Reward schemes
- Energy efficiency
- Transfer process
For the eighth time in row, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) took the coveted first place spot. Although their overall customer satisfaction rating dropped from 79% to 69.2%; clearly a sign of the times, with most energy providers feeling the wrath of the public as a consequence of huge increases in energy bills this year especially.
In the same category, E.On took second place, with 63.5% while British Gas came third with a customer satisfaction rating of 61.4%. Npower came last with just 57.7%.
When it came to value for money, not surprisingly SSE came first, with 45.9%, with British Gas bringing up the rear with a poor 39.1%. British Gas performed better for customer service, at 52.2%, but it was only just good enough to put them third, while SSE (again) came top with 58.1%.
“To be recognised as the number one energy supplier in the UK for customer service makes us very proud,” said Tony Keeling, Director of Customer Services at SSE.
Npower was consistently the poorest performer, coming last of the Big Six in eight out of the eleven categories.
For the results in full, visit www.uswitch.com
