Co-operative Energy, part of the Midcounties Co-operative, said its overall complaints fell by 27pc between October and December 2015 compared to the previous quarter after investing in more customer services staff. The only big six firms to appear in the bottom 10 of the league table, behind Extra Energy and Co-operative Energy, were Scottish Power and Npower, which have both battled billing issues caused by IT system upgrades. Meanwhile, their big six rivals - EDF Energy, SSE, British Gas and Eon UK - all featured in the top five on the table with the fewest complaints in the market. Citizens Advice Bureau boss Gillian Guy said: “The fallout from introducing new billing systems continues to trip up a number of suppliers. “This latest league table tells two different stories - some suppliers have again proven they’re effective at dealing with customer complaints while others lag far behind. Consumers already pay over the odds for their energy bills and it’s unacceptable that some are still being let down by poor customer service,” she added. SSE has laid claim to the lowest complaint rate in the industry since the table was first published five years ago, but was narrowly beaten to the best-in-class position by EDF Energy.
Data from the Citizens Advice Bureau shows that most complaints received about UK energy firms relate to two of the smaller, “challenger” brands – Extra Energy and Co-Operative Energy. The average number of complaints per year for these companies is around 1,500. The only big six firms to appear in the bottom ten of the league table, behind Extra Energy and Co-operative Energy, were Scottish Power and Npower, which have both faced billing issues caused by IT system upgrades. SSE, which laid claim to the lowest complaint rate in the industry since the table was first published five years ago, was narrowly beaten to the top position by EDF Energy.