British Gas (BG) has been voted the worst energy supplier for customer service by two separate surveys in the last week.
Not only did the UK’s largest provider rack up its third consecutive wooden spoon in the uSwitch customer satisfaction survey, but watchdog Energywatch found the number of complaints from disgruntled customers had actually quadrupled in the last two years.
Conversely, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has emerged smelling of roses, topping both surveys and boasting that its customers are seven times less likely to have a problem than its rival.
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What price your sanity?
Considering there is a veritable canyon between these two providers in terms of customer satisfaction, you may expect SSE to cost far more, keeping in mind that old nugget that ‘you get what you pay for’.
But BG’s cheapest plan, Click Energy 4, costs £742 on average, compared to £743 with SSE’s Price Fix 2008 – a difference of just £1. And if you go for the standard package, SSE actually works out £9 cheaper on average.
When TalkTalk was getting torn to shreds in the media for its abysmal service, at least it could fall back on the fact it was much cheaper than its competitors. Quite what BG’s sales proposition is remains unclear.
With suppliers’ offerings so similarly priced – the difference between the five cheapest tariffs is just £28 –customer satisfaction becomes the key factor when choosing who to sign with. So if your current supplier is full of hot air, make sure you switch to someone that values your custom (or at least doesn’t drive you quite so far up the wall).
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| Supplier | Online plan | Price | Tariff name | Price |
| British Gas | Click Energy 4 | £742 | Standard Dual Fuel | £837 |
| Scottish & Southern Energy | Price Fix | £743 | Dual Fuel Standard | £828 |
Enough wooden spoons for a cooking class
The Energywatch survey was the most damning. Based on its case data, Energywatch says it received 70 complaints for every 100,000 British Gas customers – twice as many as the second poorest supplier, Npower. SSE had the lowest rate at 10 cases per 100,000 customers.
The uSwitch survey was slightly more optimistic about BG’s customer service, claiming it had closed the gap on the next worst suppliers, Npower and EDF. If BG is looking at how to improve its service in a meaningful way, it may want to take a leaf out of Powergen’s book. Ranked bottom in March this year, the supplier has since jumped to second place.
The company has achieved this through initiatives, such as moving call centres back to the UK; improving training for advisors and giving them full responsibility for the end to end management of a customer query.
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Warning: Prices may vary
If you are looking to switch suppliers, it’s important to note that the UK energy market suffers from what is known as a ‘postcode lottery’. Suppliers tend to reserve their cheapest rates to areas they are trying to grow their presence, and bulk up their profits in areas they are already prevalent.
This means that one provider may well be cheapest in one area, but most expensive in another. The only way to find out for sure which is cheapest for you is to shop around for quotes or use a price comparison site.
As a final note, switching providers isn’t the only way to lower your monthly energy bills. Read more here about how to make sure you’re taking advantage of all your current provider’s discounts.
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