OneSelect comes last in Citizens Advice energy star rating

OneSelect has come bottom in the latest Citizens Advice’s star rating, which ranks the customer service levels of energy suppliers.

The ratings look at a range of measures including complaints levels, call waiting times, the timeliness and accuracy of billing and whether switches take place on time. It includes 34 firms (serving around 99% of the market).

The results, which cover the period July to September 2018, show OneSelect has underperformed in all categories.

OneSelect came to the market in 2017, advertising itself as a ‘low cost’ supplier, providing gas and electricity to around 35,000 households across England and Wales.

Customers have reported problems contacting the company by phone and only around two thirds of their customers received a bill based on a meter reading over the past year.

The results also show:

• So Energy has managed to hold its place at the top of the table for the fourth successive quarter, with a score of 4.7.

• SSE ranked second with 4.4 stars and is the highest placed of the ‘Big 6 suppliers

• Octopus Energy performed well, maintaining a score of 4.3, despite taking on 95,000 customers from failed supplier Iresa during the quarter.

• E.ON has the lowest ranking of the Big 6 energy suppliers. The company has slipped from 18th to 20th place, with a current score of 2.9 out of 5.

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:

“The forthcoming price cap is going to make a real difference to consumers but it is certainly not the end of the story. It is still important to shop around for the best deals, but also to think about where you’ll get good customer service.

“These ratings show that consumers can’t afford to make assumptions about the quality of service from an energy supplier based on their size or the strength of their brand.”

Star rating table

Citizens Advice, the official consumer body for energy, has developed the star rating system to help people make a more informed choice of supplier.

The ratings appear as part of Citizens Advice energy price comparison tool, to enable people to take customer service into account when choosing their energy supplier.

Notes to editors

1. Citizens Advice compares energy suppliers' customer service by looking at information from a number of sources. Information about complaints comes from the Citizens Advice Consumer Service, the Energy Help Unit and Energy Ombudsman. Citizens Advice uses its legal powers to request information on customer service, billing and switching  from suppliers. Information on customer guarantees comes from Energy UK . Energy suppliers are given a score out of 5 for each category. 1 is poor and 5 is excellent (a zero score is given if a supplier does not provide the necessary data). Suppliers then receive an overall star rating out of 5. Not all categories are equal with some counting more towards the final score than others. Further information on the methodology can be found here .

2. Spark Energy continues to appear in the star rating despite being taken over by OVO Energy earlier this month. This is because Spark Energy continues to operate as a separate brand.

3. Consumers can use this information to find their best energy deal on the Citizens Advice Energy Comparison Tool .

4. Citizens Advice includes the national charity; the network of independent local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales; the Citizens Advice consumer service; and the Witness Service.

5. Citizens Advice is the statutory consumer advocate for energy and post. We provide supplier performance information to consumers and policy analysis to decision makers.

6. The Citizens Advice Witness Service provides free, independent support for prosecution and defence witnesses in every criminal court in England and Wales.

7. Citizens Advice offers Pension Wise services at 500 locations in England and Wales.

8. Citizens Advice’s services are free, independent, confidential and impartial, and available to all regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age or nationality.

9. To get advice online or find your local Citizens Advice, visit citizensadvice.org.uk

10. For consumer advice, call the Citizens Advice consumer service on 03454 04 05 06 or 03454 04 05 05 to talk in Welsh.

11. We helped 2.6 million people face to face, by phone, email and webchat in 2017-18. For service statistics see our monthly publication Advice trends.

12. Citizens Advice staff are supported by over 23,000 trained volunteers, working at over 2,500 locations in England and Wales.