Customer service plummets at “worst possible time”, says Citizens Advice

Gerry1

'Energy suppliers’ customer service standards are plummeting as bills soar', according to the latest Citizens Advice energy star rating table released today.

I usually find CA's advice to be very useful, but the top performing EDF Energy seems to be in a different universe to the SoLR company with a similar name that replaced Zog !

MattMattMattUK

Gerry1 said:

'Energy suppliers’ customer service standards are plummeting as bills soar', according to the latest Citizens Advice energy star rating table released today.

I usually find CA's advice to be very useful, but the top performing EDF Energy seems to be in a different universe to the SoLR company with a similar name that replaced Zog !

I am always slightly sceptical about these ratings, if you ever look at the reviews you will understand why, but there will be a lot of people downvoting their supplier because they do not like the current energy price or their own mistakes, rather than any genuine customer service reasons. 

A note on EDF, I dislike their 6 month billing cycle, but generally they seem no worse than others. My personal experience if British Gas is entirely useless, others on here rate them highly, others still think they are even worse than I do. 

Chrysalis

I think a problem is refugees from old suppliers that went bust have created burdens on the inheriting companies.  Octopus for sure used to be way better before October last year.

bristolleedsfan

MattMattMattUK said:

Gerry1 said:

'Energy suppliers’ customer service standards are plummeting as bills soar', according to the latest Citizens Advice energy star rating table released today.

I usually find CA's advice to be very useful, but the top performing EDF Energy seems to be in a different universe to the SoLR company with a similar name that replaced Zog !

A note on EDF, I dislike their 6 month billing cycle, 

DD Whole Amount/variable DD gives monthly billing option

https://www.edfenergy.com/for-home/help-support/ways-to-pay - openly give both options.

Gerry1

Chrysalis said:

I think a problem is refugees from old suppliers that went bust have created burdens on the inheriting companies.  Octopus for sure used to be way better before October last year.

At best the wording is unfortunate given the current events, and at worst it's victim blaming.

It's Ofgem's fault for allowing Ponzi companies to fund their growth out of customers' inflated Direct Debits, as Citizens Advice noted in their recent highly critical report: 'Ofgem allowed unfit and unsustainable energy companies to trade with little penalty. Despite knowing about widespread problems in the market, it failed to take meaningful action.'

Chrysalis

Gerry1 said:

Chrysalis said:

I think a problem is refugees from old suppliers that went bust have created burdens on the inheriting companies.  Octopus for sure used to be way better before October last year.

At best the wording is unfortunate given the current events, and at worst it's victim blaming.

It's Ofgem's fault for allowing Ponzi companies to fund their growth out of customers' inflated Direct Debits, as Citizens Advice noted in their recent highly critical report: 'Ofgem allowed unfit and unsustainable energy companies to trade with little penalty. Despite knowing about widespread problems in the market, it failed to take meaningful action.'

Yep of course I dont blame the refugees.  I agree on what you say on the way these companies were funding their cashflow as well.  I think sadly all ofgem was caring about was unsustainable market prices, the sustainability of the funding, the immoral way of the funding doesnt concern them.  Note as well that Martin himself is raising this issue of inflated direct debits to parliament, I will be surprised if any action is taken, as the companies will threaten the government with higher prices and they wont want the political damage.

MattMattMattUK

bristolleedsfan said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Gerry1 said:

'Energy suppliers’ customer service standards are plummeting as bills soar', according to the latest Citizens Advice energy star rating table released today.

I usually find CA's advice to be very useful, but the top performing EDF Energy seems to be in a different universe to the SoLR company with a similar name that replaced Zog !

A note on EDF, I dislike their 6 month billing cycle, 

DD Whole Amount/variable DD gives monthly billing option

https://www.edfenergy.com/for-home/help-support/ways-to-pay - openly give both options.

I do not have ant particular desires to be on a variable direct debt, I would rather pay a fixed amount but also be able to get an accurate position of my account. With their six month billing cycle that is not the easiest thing to do and involves running a spreadsheet. The six month billing cycle serves no useful purpose, largely it only seems to obfuscate the current position.

wild666

6 monthly billing cycles could mean the customer is getting a large credit balance but equally occurring a large debit on their energy bills as they could use more than the DD they are paying monthly. Octopus bill me monthly on the 26th but I put in meter readings on the last day of the month, 4 or 5 days after I'm billed for my usage but I do have Smart meters that can be read by Octopus.

brewerdave

Personally ,don't think that Customer Services has got much worse in the past 6 months - in my experience ,it's been rubbish with all the utility cos. I've dealt with for the past 5 or 6 years !!