Busier than ever, but no more visible
The Energy Ombudsman, the little known, but crucial arbiter on the most serious energy supplier disputes claims that the number of complaints they are dealing with is at an all time high.
- In Q1 2013 the Ombudsman received 3,277 complaints
- In the first three months of 2014 this had increased to 10,638.
Hot on the heels of the announcement of the CMA investigation into energy markets, Chief energy ombudsman Lewis Shand Smith said:
“Consumer frustration and dissatisfaction is something that we hear about every day, and we welcome any attempts by Ofgem to make the energy market fairer.
“With energy complaints trebling in the first quarter of this year and problems relating to billing the greatest concern, increased transparency is something that should be addressed.”
It is a moot point as to what has led to this three-fold increase:
- Have energy suppliers have got worse over the period, or
- Has awareness of the ombudsman improved since 2013, or
- Has the regular front-page energy headlines driven an increase in the volume of complaints.
Whilst the reasons are unclear, 1,474 of the complaints focussed on billing charges, which suggests that, at least some of these are driven by generic frustration with the energy industry rather than specific complaints.
Currently, the role of the ombudsman is poorly promoted and opaque.
In publicising these numbers it is to be hoped that their profile, and usefulness, to energy customers can be increased and that generic complaints can be dealt with through the CMA investigation and its outcome as well as the on-going Retail Market Review from Ofgem, whilst the Ombudsman polices genuine complaints with vigour.
If you want to understand more about the ombudsman and the service they provide to energy customers then visit https://www.ombudsman-services.org/energy.html
The ombudsman is the biggest waste of time ever!!
They are supposed to mediate between parties but instead always side with energy company. They are useless at investigating and need the customer to provide any evidence themselves as they are so incompetent they are unable to find evidence themselves.
They treat the customer like they are on trial and are not at all supportive.
Hi, was your issue that you raised with the Energy Ombudsman to do with your business or home energy? If business, we’d be like to hear your experience as to what went wrong and how the Ombudsman didn’t meet your needs. Whilst we cannot change the outcome we would be happy to highlight the issues that need to be addressed by the industry.
Agreed, I have bills with actual reads that show the meter ran backwards on 3 occasions and also used $25.11 per day or gas for a period of 86 days. Origin agreed there was a clear error yet EWON basically changed my whole story and covered up evidence and actually had the bill increased.
As a note of explanation, this comment does not reflect on the Energy Ombudsman in the UK.
EWON is the complaints and dispute resolution body for customers of Sydney Water and electricity supply companies in NSW, Australia. Origin is a leading Australian energy company – electricity and gas suppliers.
Ombudsman service are a joke there not helping anyone its a cover up. I’ve been messed around for three years by N power and Ombudsman have done nothing and are not willing to help despite overwhelming evidence I have against Npower. Do not waste your time.