Energy Ombudsman: Complaints leap by 84% in one year

Dale Allen is still getting demands for payments from a previous provider but insists he owes nothing

The Energy Ombudsman saw a huge rise in complaints between April to June - up 84% on the same period in 2022.

Of the 36,823 disputes, the most common concerned gas or electricity use, account balances and meter readings.

A customer can only escalate a complaint to the Ombudsman if their supplier has not fixed an issue after eight weeks or says it is not fixable.

The ombudsman said "the start of the energy crisis [in 2022]" and the cost of living may be behind the rise.

The 36,823 complaints about energy companies accepted by the Ombudsman between April and June is the highest figure for a quarter on record.

On its website, the watchdog states it "may only see a small fraction of complaints made about a supplier".

The average award given to customers has also rocketed - from £40 for billing complaints in April to June last year, to £126 this year.

The average award for smart meter complaints has risen from £33 to £100.

'Threatened with bailiffs'

Dale Allen, 66, from Lancashire, said the engineer who fitted his smart meter submitted the serial number incorrectly to the National Grid database - which was rectified by another company years later.

As a result, he said, he was sent bills generated for a meter at a different location.

The company he was with has since gone into administration.

He has since switched providers and insists he does not owe anything but is still getting emails from a debt collection company.

In one, dated 2 November, the company wrote: "Unless the sum of £1,051.52 is received within three days of the date of this letter we will issue doorstep agents and obtain a court order against you without further recourse."

He said: "I'm getting threatened with bailiffs - but there is no debt.

"I'm with a new provider now - they won't take you on unless you've cleared your debts with the other provider, which I had done."

Mr Allen is undecided about whether he will approach the Energy Ombudsman.

In October, Gillian Campbell, from Northumberland, received a monthly electricity and gas bill for £1,912.96.

This was more than half of her projected bill for the whole year of £2,588.16, she said.

Miss Campbell, 39, claimed she was regularly charged the wrong amount for her energy use because her smart meter produces "random numbers" that "are wildly wrong".

As a result, she has to take manual meter readings each month.

Gillian Campbell says she has been having problems with her smart meter for months

"It's causing a lot of stress, I'm worrying about what this month's bill's going to be."

Miss Campbell said she had been complaining about the problem for more than 10 months. She has recently contacted the Energy Ombudsman.

The Energy Ombudsman said: "Consumer disputes continued to be high in the first half of 2023, following the start of the energy crisis the previous year.

"At a time when the cost-of-living crisis impacted the country, people have wanted to know more than ever that they are being treated fairly by the supplier.

"The volume of disputes coming to us has dropped since then but with winter coming up we remain ready to support consumers. We'd encourage anyone who isn't able to get a resolution with their supplier to bring their dispute to us."

Additional reporting by Philippa Stock of Rip Off Britain.