Are landlords and tenants paying too much for utilities?

A new report shows a growing difference in customer service levels between the best and worst energy suppliers in Britain - meaning landlords and tenants could be paying too much.

The Citizens Advice charity says inaccurate bills are an all-too-common problem for customers of suppliers ranked in the bottom five of the star rating table. 

Customers of these companies are five times more likely to get an inaccurate bill from their supplier than customers of the top five suppliers.

The star rating table for January to March 2021 reveals suppliers in the bottom five failed to provide an accurate bill for 15 per cent of their customers, compared to less than three per cent for those in the top five.

The borrow five energy supply firms are named by the charity as Utilita, Ecotricity, Symbio, People’s Energy, and Orbit.

The top five are named as Igloo, Outfox The Market, M&S Energy, E (Gas & Electricity), and Octopus. 

Citizens Advice is warning that suppliers are failing in their most basic obligation to customers as it calls on them to provide accurate bills for customers. The charity is also urging suppliers to protect those at the highest risk of debt by offering tailored and flexible repayment options.

The stress created by billing errors is compounded by poor customer service, which leaves landlords, tenants and others struggling to contact their suppliers to resolve issues.

The star rating table reveals a wide gap in the quality of customer service offered by suppliers in the top five compared to suppliers in the bottom five.

The worst suppliers only respond to 35 per cent of their customers’ emails within two working days, compared to 86 per cent for the best suppliers.

People with the worst suppliers wait on the phone for more than six minutes on average - that’s 3.5 times longer than those with suppliers in the top five.

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