How we're handling our customer complaints

We work hard to stop things going wrong so you don’t have to get in touch with us. But we know we’re not perfect, so if something’s not right, it's important we fix it as soon as we can.

Clear and simple

We must publish our complaints procedure and make the process for handling complaints clear and straight forward.

Process

We must ensure we follow our process every time and make sure you know what it is.

Communicate

We must make sure you know where you are in our process, from the time you first make a complaint to when we resolve it.

Our commitment

We’re committed to doing whatever we can to resolve complaints as quickly as possible. We aim to fully fix the customers issue to avoid them having to complain about the same problem again.

We started publishing detailed complaints data in March 2012 as we believed that it was important customers could see how their supplier dealt with problems.

We'll continue to provide this quarterly information to show our performance over the past year.

Quarterly report - Q1 2020

We're pleased that the number of complaints recorded has decreased again from 97,907 in Q4 2019 to 86,783 in Q1 2020. This reduction is due to our continued focus on what our customers want and need, and by simplifying our complaints process.

We've a clear process for handling complaints. The first step is to contact us and let us know you're dissatisfied. It's important that you let us know about what's gone wrong, so we've a chance to fix it for you.

For more information on how we manage complaints and what you can expect from us when you've a complaint, check out our complaints handling procedure.

  • Number of complaints opened
    86,783
  • Number of complaints opened per 100,000 customers
    1,501
  • Percentage of complaints resolved in less than a day
    57.23%
  • Number of complaints resolved
    74,902
  • Number of complaints resolved per 100,000 customers
    1,295
  • Percentage of complaints resolved within eight weeks
    90.5%

Top reasons for complaints in 2019

Below is a breakdown of the top issues our customers complained about as a percentage of the total complaints we received.

  • Customer service


    Oct - Dec 2019 - 66%

  • Payments


    Oct - Dec 2019 - 8%

  • Prepayment classic metering


    Oct - Dec 2019     - 2%

  • Bills and meter readings


    Oct - Dec 2019 - 13%

  • My prices


    Oct - Dec 2019     - 4%

Customer service is at the heart of what we do

We are continuing to strive to put the customer at the heart of our decision making and as a result we are seeing a  quarter on quarter reduction in customer service complaints.

Complaints have a central focus in our organisation, an opportunity for us to continually improve our service. Feedback from our customers on how we are doing is essential to us, and we ensure we review any complaints we receive and learn from them. To support this, we have simplified our internal complaints process to focus on what our customers want and need. 

Previous reports

Here's a record of our annual report and last five quarterly reports.

Our annual reports
Quarterly report - Q4 2019
Quarterly report - Q4 2019

The number of complaints we recorded decreased from 153,075 in Q3 2019 to 97,907 in Q4 2019. This reduction is due to our continued focus on what our customers want and need, and by simplifying our complaints process.

The percentage of complaints we resolve within eight weeks has decreased slightly from 92.10% to 89% this quarter.

The percentage of complaints resolved by the end of the next working day has decreased since the last quarter from 69.06% to 59%.

 

  • Number of complaints opened
    97,907
  • Number of complaints opened per 100,000 customers
    1,711
  • Percentage of complaints resolved in less than a day
    59%
  • Number of complaints resolved
    87,166
  • Number of complaints resolved per 100,000 customers
    1,531
  • Percentage of complaints resolved within eight weeks
    89%
Quarterly report - Q3 2019

Quarterly report - Q3 2019

We're pleased that the number of complaints recorded has decreased by 4,659 from 157,734 in Q2 2019 to 153,075 in Q3 2019. Whilst this is positive news, we're continually striving to address the causes to improve our customer service further.

The percentage of complaints resolved by the end of the next working day has decreased since the last quarter from 72.21% to 69.06%.

The percentage of complaints we resolve within eight weeks has decreased slightly from 93.68% to 92.10% this quarter.

  • Number of complaints opened
    153,075
  • Number of complaints opened per 100,000 customers
    2,711
  • Percentage of complaints resolved in less than a day
    69.06%
  • Number of complaints resolved
    136,684
  • Number of complaints resolved per 100,000 customers
    2,420
  • Percentage of complaints resolved within eight weeks
    92.10%

Quarterly report - Q2 2019

Q2 2019

The number of complaints has decreased by 22,374 from 180,108 in Q1 2019 to 157,734 in Q2 2019. This is 8,198 complaints higher than in the same quarter of 2018 when we received 149,536 complaints.

The percentage of complaints resolved by the end of the next working day has decreased since the last quarter from 76.01% to 72.21%.

The percentage of complaints we resolved within eight weeks has decreased slightly from 94.96% to 93.68% this quarter.

  • Number of complainst opened
    157,734
  • Number of complaints opened per 100,000 customers
    2,778
  • Percentage of complaints resoloved in less than a day
    72.21%
  • Number of complaints resolved
    140,667
  • Number of complaints resolved per 100,000 customers
    2,478
  • Percentage of complaints resolved within eight weeks
    93.68%
Quarterly report - Q1 2019
Q1 2019

The number of complaints has increased by 14,862 from 165,246 in Q4 2018 to 180,108 in Q1 2019. This is 16,358 complaints higher than in the same quarter of 2018 when we received 163,750 complaints.

The percentage of complaints resolved by the end of the next working day has increased since last quarter from 75.58%.to 76.01%.

The percentage of complaints we resolved within eight weeks has decreased slightly from 95.38% to 94.96% this quarter.

  • Number of complaints opened
    180,108
  • Number of complaints opened per 100,000 customers
    3,079
  • Percentage of complaints resolved in less than a day
    76.01%
  • Number of complaints resolved
    162,200
  • Number of complaints resolved per 100,000 customers
    2,773
  • Percentage of complaints resolved within eight weeks
    94.96%
Quarterly report - Q4 2018
Q4 2018

The number of complaints increased by 10,729 from 154,517 in Q3 2018 to 165,246 in Q4 2018. This is 4,277 complaints higher than in the same quarter of 2017 when we received 160,969 complaints.

We changed how we categorised our complaints from July 2018 which is why our top five reasons are now different.

The percentage of complaints resolved by the end of the next working day has decreased since the previous quarter from 77.59% to 75.58%. The percentage of complaints we resolved within eight weeks has increased slightly from 94.97% to 95.38% this quarter.

  • Number of complaints opened
    165,246
  • Number of complaints opened per 100,000 customers
    2,720
  • Percentage of complaints resolved in less than a day
    75.58%
  • Number of complaints resolved
    147,884
  • Number of complaints resolved per 100,000 customers
    2,434
  • Percentage of complaints resolved within 8 weeks
    95.38%