SSE’s high score mirrored its result in the uSwitch Energy Customer Satisfaction Awards 2010, where it was rated number one for the seventh year in a row, whilst npower came last despite an 11% overall improvement. 

The Consumer Focus league table is based on the customer services performance of the six major energy suppliers in the UK and is designed to help consumers distinguish the energy suppliers who deal efficiently with customer complaints from those who leave customers frustrated.

It came after research showed that nearly half of consumers consider the company’s customer services when deciding whether they should switch their gas and electricity provider.

Consumer Focus advised that customers thinking about switching their energy supplier should weigh up its customer service rating as well as comparing gas and electricity prices with an accredited  price comparison website.

Customer service scores were awarded based on how many complaints the supplier received, as well as the severity of the complaint and how much time it took to resolve the issue.

Finally, each score was weighted based on the size of each company.

The ‘Big 6′, who make up 99% of the domestic energy market, received around 4.6 million complaints during the last financial year.

Mike O’Connor, chief executive at Consumer Focus said that all companies needed to aim higher when it came to customer services.

“We know energy companies are rooted at the bottom of our consumer trust survey.

“They have got a lot to do to win the respect of their customers and getting a firm grip on customer service and complaint handling should be a priority in the boardroom of these companies.

“They should all be aiming to be a five star service,” he said.

SSE came top of the big six with four stars, followed closely by British Gas and E.On whilst npower, EDF and Scottish Power only managed to score two out of a possible five stars.

npower and EDF both said they were working towards improving their score.

“We have recently invested over £200 million in our systems and dramatically improved our complaints handling processes,” said a spokesperson for npower

“We’re already seeing results – we have more than halved the number of complaints to external bodies in the last 12 months.” 

EDF said they had ‘taken note’ of their poor rating and were hoping to improve. 

“…We are investing millions of pounds in new customer-facing systems to improve the quality of the interface with our consumers,” they said in a statement. 

The Consumer Focus customer service results

Supplier

Rating

SSE

4****

British Gas

3***

E.ON

3***

Scottish Power

2**

EDF

2**

npower

2**

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