Yahoo Finance Npower Tops List Of Energy Customer Complaints
Npower has topped a customer complaints list leading an energy watchdog to describe its performance as "unacceptable".
Latest research compiled by Consumer Futures, which represents consumers in regulated markets, said npower had 202.5 complaints per 100,000.
This was compared with 38.3 per 100,000 for SSE (Other OTC: SSEZF - news) , the lowest of the main energy providers.
Audrey Gallacher, director of energy at Consumer Futures, said: "The company is implementing system changes that inevitably caused disruption to customers, however its complaints performance is unacceptable and the company must take further steps to tackle this.
"Energy companies have repeatedly said they want to rebuild consumer trust.
"Along with price, good service is important to customers. People want to know the relative performance on complaint handling to help them make informed choices when deciding whether to switch.
"Customer satisfaction with how complaints are handled is low across a whole range of industries and the same problems are seen over and over again."
The figures were taken from the period April (Frankfurt: B2B.F - news) to June 2013 and do not include any complaints made in the wake of recent price hike announcements.
Public confidence in energy suppliers has been dealt a major blow since five of the Big Six energy firms announced that charges would rise by an average of around 9%.
Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: "Price hikes of 36% over the last three years, coupled with poor customer service, has compounded the lack of trust in energy firms as households struggle to afford to have a warm home."
A spokesman for Energy UK, the trade association for the energy industry, said: "The vast majority of energy customers are happy with the service they get with only around one in every 1,400 customers likely to need to contact their supplier about a problem.
"Most complaints only need a phone call to sort out - around four out of five queries are resolved by the end of the next working day - but, if the problem cannot be resolved, the energy ombudsman is there to ensure problems get fixed.
"Energy companies take their relationship with customers extremely seriously and work hard to improve customer service."
More From Sky News
