Ofgem has opened compliance cases into First Utility, Ovo Energy and Utilita over their poor handling of customer complaints after carrying out its biyearly complaints handling survey.
The energy regulator is also expanding recent compliance engagement on complaints handling performance with ScottishPower through a compliance case which includes the results of the survey.
As well as this new compliance action, Ofgem is also requiring all other domestic suppliers surveyed – British Gas, Npower, Utility Warehouse, SSE, EDF Energy, E.ON and Co-operative Energy – to provide improvement plans on how they will deal with complaints and provide appropriate updates.
The survey of over 3,000 complainants found that satisfaction has improved since the last survey in 2016, with a third (32%) of domestic customers satisfied with how their complaint was dealt with, an increase of five percentage points from 2016 (27%).
However, the survey found that the proportion of customers who are dissatisfied (57%) remains higher than those satisfied with how their complaint had been dealt with.
The main contributors to high levels of dissatisfaction were the length of time taken to resolve the issue, not being kept up to date with the progress of the complaint and suppliers not providing complainants with a clear view of how long the resolution will take.
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