Complaints - How we're doing
Our latest complaints performance for the first quarter of 2013 covers the period 1 January to 31 March. It includes both British Gas performance and that of our partnership brand Sainsbury’s Energy[1].
Quarterly complaints performance – British Gas Residential
How we’re performing
The number of complaints we received
Commentary:
We experienced a small rise in our complaint volumes during the winter period (Q1 2013) which reflects the nature of our business. We also generally see an increase in complaints following a price rise notification, therefore the volumes above reflect the first full quarter following our price rise announced in October 2012.
We are, however, pleased to report that our Q1 2013 volumes show an 18% reduction compared with the volumes received in Q1 2012 (like for like comparison).
The majority of our complaints fall into five key categories. You can read detail on what our Top Five complaints are below and how we plan to address them.
The number of complaints we resolved
Commentary:
Resolved volumes are based on the total complaints resolved in the reporting quarter. During Q1 2013 we resolved 2,273 complaints per 100,000 customer accounts; this is slightly lower than Q4 2012 and is due to the higher than expected contact volumes we experienced over the winter.
% of complaints we resolved on the same day or the next working day
Commentary:
Whilst our performance is relatively comparable with previous quarters, we’ve seen a slight decline in the percentage of complaints resolved on the same or the next working day at 78.7% in Q1 2013.
An increasing number of customers are contacting us by post and email, with one third of our customers now contacting us online. This can delay the closure of a complaint as we’ll confirm that our customers are satisfied with the resolution of their complaint prior to it's closure.
% of complaints we resolved within eight weeks
Commentary:
With 95.9% of our complaints resolved within eight weeks, it’s disappointing to see that our performance has declined slightly following the improvements we’d made in Q4 2012. Again this can be attributed to the higher than expected contacts we received over the winter. Where we’ve not been able to resolve a complaint within 8 weeks it is often because we need more information from a third party.
Complaints that have been accepted by the Ombudsman Services: Energy
Commentary:
The Ombudsman Services: Energy will accept a complaint if our customer’s issue remains unresolved after eight weeks, or where a deadlock letter has been issued.
Although we've seen an increase in the number of Ombudsman complaints received, increases have been experienced across the industry as a whole. Our volumes represent just 0.08% of the total complaints we received in Q1 2013 and 12.9% of the residential customer complaints accepted by the Ombudsman Services: Energy, against a British Gas residential market share of around 32%[2].
We continue to look at how we can reduce these volumes further, continuously working to ensure our internal policies, processes and procedures are improving to prevent the need for escalation to a third party.
| As a percentage of the total complaints received | Q1 2013 |
| Payment issues | 31% |
| Billing | 24% |
| Debt | 10% |
| Metering |
8% |
| Customer service |
8% |
Payment issues
Payment related complaints can be linked to seasonality and our price rise which was announced in October 2012. We review payment plans at least twice a year, after a price change, and when customers roll off long term contracts on to a new tariff. In the first quarter of 2013 we reviewed over 4 million payment plans. We do this to make sure payment plans are as accurate as possible and can mean some payment plans are adjusted more regularly, resulting in some customers getting in touch to discuss the changes.
Billing
The issues our customers have had within the billing category predominately relate to disputing the amount billed, understanding the information that is displayed on the bill and queries relating to their tariff.
We’ve already taken steps to address these concerns, for example, by introducing a new, clearer bill and ‘Tariff Check’ - a personalised half-yearly review for our credit meter customers using their actual energy consumption. Customers are informed via their bill if they could save money by moving to a different British Gas tariff and our Prepayment customers will be informed via their annual statement.
Debt
We know that this is an area of increasing concern, with more customers finding themselves in a challenging financial position.
Through our British Gas Energy Trust, we've worked with the Citizens Advice Bureau and other Agencies in the setting up of fourteen localised centres of excellence across the country. Through these we now offer more tailored debt advice and support services to our customers and other members of the general public struggling with debt.
Metering
Metering complaints can be linked to the number of meters being exchanged and the impacts of the colder weather, with more customers experiencing difficulties with the loss of a supply. We’ve recently introduced a ‘Customer Effort’ score which captures feedback on how much effort the customer has had to make to have a meter exchanged. Our customers are giving us great feedback, scoring us 4.7 out of 5 (with 5 being the least effort).
Customer service
We know that, regrettably, sometimes our customers do not receive the level of service they expect from British Gas. These can cover concerns about the information we’ve provided or the actions we've taken. This area is a key priority for us as we strive for service excellence, getting things right for our customers first time and keeping every promise we make.
Annual Consumer Complaints Report
View our Annual Consumer Complaints Report, which details how we’ve performed in relation to the number of complaints we weren’t able to resolve on the same, or next working day.
For the reporting period 1st October 2011 to 30th September 2012 this figure was 319,234.
[1] Sainsbury's Energy is supplied in partnership with British Gas (part of British Gas Trading Limited). Complaints performance data is compiled by British Gas and includes complaints related to Sainsbury’s Energy.
[2] Previously reported volumes have been amended retrospectively by the Ombudsman Services: Energy following re-categorisation after investigation.
