How the scores are worked out
Mae'r cyngor hwn yn berthnasol i Cymru. Gweler cyngor ar gyfer Gweler cyngor ar gyfer Lloegr, Gweler cyngor ar gyfer Gogledd Iwerddon, Gweler cyngor ar gyfer Yr Alban
We compare energy suppliers' customer service by looking at data from a number of reliable sources. We publish data about suppliers with more than 25,000 customer accounts.
Complaints received rating
We base our ratings on complaints made to:
the Citizens Advice Consumer Service
the Extra Help Unit
the Energy Ombudsman
Advice Direct Scotland
Customer service rating
We use data from suppliers to work out:
their average call centre wait time - except time spent in sales lines
the number of emails they answered within 2 working days
their average response time for messages on social media - where they’re contacted more than 5% of the time through social media
Customer commitment rating
We base our ratings on suppliers’ membership of the Energy Switch Guarantee and the Vulnerability Commitment.
If a supplier is a member of the Energy Switch Guarantee, they have to meet certain criteria - such as completing 98% of switches within 5 working days. Find out more about the Energy Switch scheme on the Energy UK website.
If a supplier is a member of the Vulnerability Commitment, they have to promise to improve their support to vulnerable customers, who might be facing financial difficulties or illnesses. Find out more about the Vulnerability Commitment on the Energy UK website.
Suppliers score 3 points for membership of the Energy Switch Guarantee or the Vulnerability Commitment. If they're a member of both, their score is capped at 5 points. Trial members of the Energy Switch Guarantee score 2 points.
If we don't have data for your supplier
Suppliers are legally required to share the data we use in this rating. They also need to have a referral system to our consumer service.
If they don’t, we score them zero in categories related to these things.
We need suppliers to give us permission to publish data they share with us. If they don’t, you’ll only see a star rating.
How we come up with a star rating
We give energy suppliers a score out of 5 for each category. 5 is excellent and 1 is poor. Then we give them an overall star rating out of 5.
Category | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Category
Number of complaints per 10,000 customers |
5
5 or less |
4
5 to 15 |
3
15 to 30 |
2
30 to 55 |
1
More than 55 |
Category
Average call centre wait time (seconds) |
5
Less than 30s |
4
30s - 90s |
3
90s - 180s |
2
180s - 300s |
1
More than 300s |
Category
Emails responded to within 2 working days |
5
More than 95% |
4
95 - 80% |
3
80 - 60% |
2
60 - 40% |
1
Less than 40% |
Category
Average social media response time |
5
Less than 30 mins |
4
30 - 60 mins |
3
1 - 2 hours |
2
2 - 4 hours |
1
More than 4 hours |
Category
Customer commitments |
5
Suppliers score 3 points each for membership of the Energy Switch Guarantee and membership of the Vulnerability Commitment (up to a maximum of 5 points). Trial members of the Energy Switch Guarantee score 2 points. |
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
Not all categories are equal. Some, like complaints, count more towards the final score than others.
This is how we work out the overall scores.
Category | Measured as | Counts towards overall score |
---|---|---|
Category
Fewer complaints received |
Measured as
Complaints made to the Citizens Advice Consumer Service, the Extra Help Unit, the Energy Ombudsman and Advice Direct Scotland |
Counts towards overall score
35% |
Category
Response wait times |
Measured as
Average call centre wait time |
Counts towards overall score
33% |
Category
Response wait times |
Measured as
Email response time |
Counts towards overall score
22% or 11% if they’re also scored on social media response time |
Category
Response wait times |
Measured as
Social media response time - if contacted more than 5% of the time through social media |
Counts towards overall score
11% |
Category
Customer commitments |
Measured as
Membership of a range of schemes |
Counts towards overall score
10% |
How we separate suppliers that get equal ratings
If two suppliers receive the same overall score, the supplier with the lower complaints score will receive the higher overall ranking.
If the two suppliers have the same complaints score, we use a tie breaker formula to decide on their ranking. This tie breaker formula uses the same method as the main star rating score, but uses the original data that we receive from suppliers (excluding the complaints score and customer guarantees score.) This has the effect of awarding the supplier with the better customer service performance the higher ranking, even if the difference in performance is small.
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