Complaints report

You can view or Download a PDF copy of our 2012 report [75.9 kB]

our 2011 report [112 kB]

or our  2010 report [129 kB]

(Requires Acrobat Reader)

In 2008 OFGEM introduced new regulations to ensure that all electricity companies had proper processes in place to record and handle complaints, and that all companies reported their complaints in a consistent manner.

OFGEM defined a complaint for this purpose as being any expression of dissatisfaction. All energy companies are required to publish an annual report showing the number of complaints received that have not been resolved by the end of the working day following the day of receipt.

The first report under these new regulations was required in October 2009.

This is our fourth annual report and once again it’s fair to say we are chuffed with the results we are publishing here. We have just 33 complaints* to report in the year ending September 2012.

Our aim - the best possible Customer Service

Our aim at Ecotricity is to deliver the very best possible customer service that we can: the kind of service that we ourselves would like to receive.

During the past few years we've evolved several key initiatives aimed at continually advancing the level of service that we provide. We’ve had a major focus on problem avoidance and problem solving. We've also made changes to our electricity bills (making them clearer), we’ve invested in state of the art IT systems (probably the most advanced in the electricity industry), and we’ve changed a number of key processes.

We know that it is not possible to get everything right, every time, however hard we try. What is really important to us, and what we think sets us apart from other energy companies, is that when things do go wrong, we get it put right as quickly as we can.

Our results

With almost 65,000 gas and electricity accounts our customer numbers have grown by 26% in the last year. Complaints* however have fallen by over 7% to just 0.51 per 1000 customers, down from 0.55 per 1000 customers last year and 26% down on the 0.69 complaints per 1000 customers that we recorded in the year before that (2010).

These super low levels of complaints – still falling year on year, go some way to supporting our view that we probably have the best customer service of any energy company in Britain – bar none.

Find out more about our complaints procedure or read our complaints code of practice. If you require a hard copy of our code of practice, please call us on 0845 555 7 100.

The Gas and Electricity (Consumer Complaints Handling Standards) Regulations 2008 required the Office of Gas & Electricity Markets (Ofgem) to set new complaints handling regulations that are binding upon regulated energy providers. These Regulations came into legal force on 1st October 2008 and all regulated providers were required to make any necessary changes to their complaints handling arrangements by that time. A full copy of these regulations can be obtained via  www.legislation.gov.uk or from The Stationery Office Limited, PO Box 29, Norwich NR3 1GN.

* total reportable complaints as defined by OFGEM which means expression of dissatisfaction that has not been resolved by the end of the working day following the day of receipt.