uSwitch Energy Customer Satisfaction Awards 2011: just 50% happy with their supplier

uSwitch Energy Customer Satisfaction Awards 2011: just 50% happy with their supplier

All six of the UK’s major energy suppliers have seen an overall drop in their customer satisfaction ratings, following a year of rising energy costs, fines and widespread criticism of the energy industry.

The uSwitch Customer Satisfaction Awards, based on responses from over 5,000 energy customers, saw suppliers achieve all time highs last year, with 73% of customers satisfied with their overall service. 

However, after two price rises in under a year, which saw the average cost of energy go up by 21%, customer satisfaction has dropped to 62% - the steepest drop since the Awards began.

Tellingly, this year’s Value for Money category saw its results nosedive to just 42% - a 17% fall from last year.

And, despite Ofgem’s recent attempts to regulate customer service handling in the energy industry, just half of all customers are satisfied with their supplier’s customer service, which represents an 8% fall.

Overall ten out of 11 categories fell in score, showing a steep decline in the perception of the energy industry as a whole.

However, customers reported an overall improvement in their supplier’s online services with a record score of 54% as suppliers attempt to make energy usage and billing services easier to manage.

 
see the full uSwitch Customer Service Awards 2011  

Biggest Winner

This year saw another win for overall satisfaction for SSE, which has won the Overall Customer Satisfaction category eight times in a row.

Seven in ten of its customers (69%) said they are satisfied with the company, while 58% of its customers are happy with its customer service – the highest of all the suppliers.

It was also top of the table for value for money, best deal and for customers likely to recommend it to a friend.

Altogether, SSE won eight of eleven categories.

Tony Keeling, Director of Customer Services at SSE, says: "To retain our position as the UK's number one energy supplier for the eighth time in a row makes all of us very proud.

"It also makes us even more determined to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the energy sector and continue to build trust with our customers.

"Choosing an energy supplier is an important decision for a household and this award gives our customers the confidence in knowing the energy to their home is being supplied by a company committed to improving transparency in all areas of energy supply, simplifying tariff choices and ensuring better customer service and fair deals for all customers."

Biggest Faller 

EDF was the biggest faller of 2011, dropping 15% in overall customer satisfaction and falling three places into fifth position.

Despite coming last npower overall, it saw the least drop in scores when compared to last year’s results.

Although EDF froze its prices until March this year so that customers could guarantee that prices would not go up over the winter months, it saw a 19% drop in Value for Money category and a 12% fall in customers who would recommend it to a friend, coming forth in both categories.

It also saw a 16% decline in its customer service ratings, from 61% to 45% andm after losing its Nectar points scheme, it suffered a drop from 39% satisfaction to just 13%, moving it from first to fifth place.

Steve Hayfield, Customer Services Director, EDF Energy, said he was ‘disappointed’ by EDF’s results: “I’m personally disappointed that we have not been in a position to consistently deliver the high levels of service this year that we expect of ourselves and that our customers have been used to.

“Throughout this year we have been carefully implementing new systems which, once fully in place, will deliver new and improved services for our customers. However, during the implementation process there has been an impact on the service we have provided this year.

He went on to apologise to its customers: “I sincerely apologise to those customers who have experienced any problems during this period.

“It is important to remember that such league tables have a lag effect and don’t necessarily represent what is happening now. We have taken on a significant number of additional staff and our call waiting times have improved greatly since the summer.

“Although these results have been below our usual standards, we have recently taken a number of major decisions based on customer feedback to improve transparency and fairness which we believe will help to improve these scores in the future.

"For example, although we had to raise our prices, we were the last to do so and raised them the lowest.

"This means that for the second winter running, EDF Energy will have the cheapest standard dual fuel prices on average, providing a fair price for customers at the time they use the most energy.

"In addition, we recently announced our offer to provide free insulation to anyone who does not already have it and our new ‘Thank Yous scheme’ which rewards our customers for being loyal.

“We’d like to thank our customers for their patience while we complete this systems upgrade and we’re confident that we’ll greatly improve our rating next year.”

Value for Money

Just 42% of customers said that they were satisfied with the value for money from their supplier, which is a significant 17% drop from last year.

Customers who said they would be likely to recommend their supplier this year fell by 8% and just over a third of customers (36%) are satisfied that their supplier has put them on their best deal - 9% less than last year.

Customer Service

This year’s awards showed a steep decline in customer service satisfaction over the last year.

Only half of all customers said they were satisfied with energy suppliers’ customer service, a disappointment considering last year suppliers reached an all time high of 58%.

Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch, said customers who were unhappy with their supplier should vote with their feet: “The greenshoots of improvement we saw last year have wilted under the spotlight glare that the energy industry has been under this year.

"Price rises, fines and investigations have coupled with consumers’ own experience to put customer satisfaction into reverse gear.

“Consumers are never going to be happy with suppliers when prices have gone up, but the biggest worry to my mind is that customer service seems to have suffered too – only half of all energy customers are happy with their supplier’s service and that is unacceptable.

“The important thing for customers to understand is that there is no excuse for putting up with bad service, poor value for money or with a nagging doubt that your supplier does not have you on their best deal. 

“There have been many consumer-friendly initiatives this year with many more to come, but if you are not happy speak to your supplier.

“If you are still unhappy with the service you are getting then it’s time to look around for a better deal.

“Not only could you save up to £420 on your energy bill, but switching is also the one thing that suppliers consistently do well.”

"Almost three quarters of customers (74%) are satisfied with their supplier’s transfer process – it’s the area where all suppliers consistently score best.”
 
Others
 
E.ON proved a relatively strong performer this year, moving up from third to second place in overall customer satisfaction, benefiting in part to its introduction of a reward scheme with Tesco Clubcard.

It also came top for energy efficiency with 31% of customers satisfied with the efforts it is making in this area.

David Bird, Customer Operations Director at E.ON, said it  was making a real effort to include customer feedback in its company strategies: “We’re committed to offering good customer service and value for money and we’re especially pleased to see the increase in our customers’ overall satisfaction as well as an increase in our scores for eight out of 10 categories.

“We’re also delighted to have won both the Energy Efficiency and Reward Scheme categories.

“We always listen to our customers’ views and are working hard, day in day out, to engage them with their energy use and provide a range of tariffs and services to match the needs of different people.

“We have a 28,000-strong ‘YourSay’ panel, which gives customers the opportunity to share their opinions on a range of energy related topics, helping us to deliver the products and services they want in a manner that they wish.

“We’re disappointed to see a decline in the views of our meter and online services, but welcome any feedback that gives us further insight into our customers opinions and how we can improve the service we provide.”

British Gas also went up by two places to achieve third position for overall customer satisfaction.

Overall, British Gas gained positions in five categories and fell in three.

It also the first time that the energy company won the online services category.

British Gas has introduced new features, such as being able to change direct debit payments, compare your energy usage in your local area as well the ability to submit meter readings online.

ScottishPower slipped to forth place place for overall customer satisfaction, however stayed third in value for money, despite its score falling by 19%.

It also gained a place for customers satisfied that they are on the best deal, securing third place.
However, the number of customers likely to recommend it, fell from from 4th to 5th place this year.

Neil Clitheroe, the new CEO of ScottishPower Energy Retail said: “We constantly strive to improve
customer experience in all areas of our business.

"We speak directly to our customers all the time and use their feedback to drive improvements.

"Indeed, recently we outlined a range of extra customer service initiatives to help customers over the winter period. We will take on board the learning’s from this uSwitch research.”