Energy watchdog calls for better service for small firms
October 2, 2007
Independent watchdog, energywatch, has called for utility suppliers to improve their service to small businesses, after its survey showed that over half of SMEs had received inaccurate bills.
Results from an energywatch survey of 2,400 small firms showed that 52 per cent of businesses received inaccurate billing, while 58 per cent were dissatisfied with the complaints process.
The survey also showed that none of the six major energy suppliers: British Gas Business (BGB), EDF Energy, npower, Powergen, Scottish and Southern Energy and ScottishPower achieved a ‘satisfied' rating.
According to energywatch, small businesses are particularly vulnerable to low service standards because suppliers are exploiting SMEs lack of knowledge and information to write restrictive contracts and provide poor customer service.
"This research confirms suppliers are failing small businesses in the most basic aspects of service, such as billing, contract renewal, switching, meter reading and complaint handling," said energywatch business services manager Paul Savage. "For too long, small businesses have been denied the information to compare suppliers for price and service, and have to rely on sales pitches.
"We want to see a marketplace where good service is rewarded, poor service is shunned and where small businesses are able to influence the market by making informed choices," he added.
"We speak to our customers all the time and, since this research was carried out, they've been giving us some very positive feedback on the new dedicated account manager service we're rolling out for all BGB customers," said BGB spokesman Rhys Jones.
"More than 96 per cent of our customers chose to stay with us last year and we've seen our complaint levels drop significantly – down by more than a third in the past year while our customer numbers increased by more than 5 per cent," Jones added.
Print this page