Energy Ombudsman
This page contains information about the Energy Ombudsman.
What it does
Advantages and disadvantages
Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
Cost
Timescale
Procedure
Outcomes
What it does
The Energy Ombudsman investigates complaints about energy supply companies. These are the companies you pay to supply gas or electricity to your house. The Energy Ombudsman is not a consumer advisor like Consumer DirectGov and it is not a regulator like Ofgem. The ombudsman is independent, and will look at consumer complaints that the energy supply company has not been able to resolve.
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Advantages
- It is free
- It is independent
- It is relatively quick
- You can still complain even if you owe your supplier money
- From 1st October 2008, all energy suppliers must be members of the ombudsman scheme
- If you are happy with the ombudsman’s decision, the energy supply company will have to do what it is told
Disadvantages
- The scheme can't deal with emergencies
- You have use your supplier’s complaints system first
- You can’t go to the ombudsman until you have a deadlock letter, or 8 weeks have passed
- The ombudsman is independent, so is not on the side of the consumer
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Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
From 1st October 2008, all energy suppliers are required to be members of the Energy Ombudsman scheme, which has been approved by Ofgem.
You can complain about:
- Energy bills
- Problems as a result of changing your energy supplier
- Sales activity – for example, if you felt pressured into signing an agreement with a new supplier
- Supply problems such as power cuts
There are certain rules about complaints which depend on when the supplier joined the Energy Ombudsman service. You can check this easily from the list on the Ombudsman’s website – there is a link at the bottom of this page.
You can’t complain about:
- Matters that are already being dealt with by the courts or by other complaint procedures
- Commercial decisions about whether to provide a service
- Staff and employment issues
During 2009-10, 83% of complaints were about billing, 7% about transfers to another energy provider, and 5% about sales tactics.
The ombudsman can refuse to investigate a complaint if he or she believes it is malicious or unjustified.
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Cost
The ombudsman is free to consumers.
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Timescale
Last year (2009-10), 37% of provisional conclusions were issued within 6 weeks of receiving the complaint (against a target of more than 90%), and 41% of complaints took longer than 8 weeks.
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Procedure
Consumers are expected to try to resolve the complaint directly with the supplier first. You need to tell your supplier what the problem is, and what you want them to do about it. Then you need to give them a chance to respond, and to put things right. All suppliers should have a complaints procedure, and a complaints handling code of practice. If you need advice or information about how to make a complaint, you can contact Consumer DirectGov. They have taken over from Energywatch, the consumer watchdog that used to deal with complaints about energy companies, and they have a dedicated phone centre to deal with this area of work.
You can get extra help dealing with your complaint if you are a vulnerable consumer, or if your problem is particularly urgent or complex. So if your energy supply has been cut off, or if you are being threatened with disconnection, or if your personal circumstances make it hard for you to make a complaint yourself, Consumer Direct can refer you to Consumer Focus, the re-vamped National Consumer Council. They have an Extra Help Unit which will take responsibility for following up such complaints with the suppliers concerned, and supporting vulnerable consumers through the complaints process.
If you both agree that you can’t resolve the problem, your supplier should send you a ‘deadlock’ letter. At this point you can take the complaint to the ombudsman.
If you don’t have a deadlock letter, and you haven’t had a response you are satisfied within 8 weeks, then you can take your complaint to the ombudsman anyway.
When you call the ombudsman, you will speak to an enquiry officer. They will discuss your complaint, and tell you whether the ombudsman can help. They will take all the details of your problem, complete a complaint form, and send it to you to sign. You need to sign the form, and return it with copies of all the relevant bills, letters and information. Don’t send the original documents – the ombudsman won’t return them to you.
The ombudsman staff will try to resolve the complaint informally at an early stage. If they can’t negotiate an outcome you are happy with, the ombudsman will investigate. Before the final report, you will be sent a copy of the ombudsman’s findings, and the reasons for them. This is your last chance to send any new evidence or information.
After this, a copy of the final decision is sent to you and to the supplier. If the ombudsman has found in your favour, there will be a recommendation about what the supplier should do to put things right. If you are happy with this, then the supplier has to do what the ombudsman has ordered. If you are not happy, you can still take your complaint to court.
If you are not satisfied with the ombudsman’s service, there are details on the website about how to complain.
The General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland helps with complaints about natural gas, electricity and solid fuel/coal in Northern Ireland.
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Outcomes
The ombudsman can ask a supplier to offer:
- a service, or some practical action that will benefit you
- an apology or explanation
- a financial award
Financial awards are not likely to be very large – they are not intended to punish suppliers, but to compensate you for what has gone wrong. Although the ombudsman can award up to £5,000, over the last year (2009-10) the average award for domestic (household complaints) was £120 and 57% of awards were for amounts less than £100. For small businesses the average award was £684.
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July 2010
