Energy Supplier Customer Service Ratings and Complaints Data

Customer service ratings for UK energy suppliers come from two main places. The Citizens Advice customer performance measure, usually called the Citizens Advice star rating, scores each domestic supplier out of five on measures that include how quickly it answers the telephone: answering in under five minutes equates to one star under that methodology. Ofgem has written that rating into the supply licence, introducing licence requirements that compel suppliers to publish information on their Citizens Advice star rating performance¹. Alongside it, Ofgem runs its own Energy Consumer Satisfaction Survey and now publishes supplier-level findings for the largest domestic supply groups.

The headline picture is better than the sector's reputation suggests and worse in the detail. Ofgem's retail market reporting recorded that 81% of customers are satisfied with their energy supplier, described as the highest level ever recorded in the survey². Most customers also rate their own supplier well: research into tariff choices noted that most customers already rate their supplier at 3 stars or higher, giving that figure as 87%, although a second figure of 60% appears for the same measure in the same body of research and the documents are not consistent³. Yet in the January 2025 wave of the satisfaction survey, only 44% of those who had complained were satisfied with how their complaint was handled⁴.

Supplier-level results separate the field. In the July to August 2025 wave, EDF Energy, E.ON / E.ON Next, OVO Energy and Scottish Power customers reported satisfaction with customer service at a significantly lower proportion than the average⁵. By the January 2026 wave the same finding applied to EDF Energy, E.ON / E.ON Next and OVO Energy⁶. That is the closest thing to an official statement about which large suppliers underperform, and it is the measure a reader should look at before any commercially compiled league table.

Who publishes the ratings, and what each one is measuring

Three bodies produce the numbers that sit behind any claim about the best energy supplier for customer service, and they do different jobs.

Citizens Advice runs the customer performance measure that produces the star rating. Ofgem's consumer standards decision refers to it directly as "the metrics used in the Citizens Advice customer performance measure (Citizens Advice star rating)" and made publication of performance against it a licence obligation rather than a voluntary exercise¹. That matters: a rating a supplier is compelled to publish is harder to bury than a marketing award.

Ofgem itself is the regulator and the statistician. It monitors suppliers and network operators closely to make sure they meet the rules set out in licences, regulations and law, provide good customer service, and reply quickly to customers who contact them⁸. Separately, it publishes the Energy Consumer Satisfaction Survey, and since January 2025 has published two indicators of customer satisfaction for seven energy supply groups: overall satisfaction with their supplier, and satisfaction with the customer service they have received⁴. Government has committed to working with Ofgem on the publication of a wider range of supplier performance data⁹.

The Energy Ombudsman is the third source, though it publishes case outcomes rather than ratings. It is approved by Ofgem to handle service disputes in the energy sector¹⁰, and it has stated its support for Ofgem's work to improve customer service and trust in the energy retail sector through the Consumer Confidence Programme¹¹.

The market these bodies cover is large: 23 domestic energy suppliers and 72 business energy suppliers were recorded as active². Ratings coverage is far narrower than that, which is the first limitation of any table.

The star rating: what one star is worth

The single published detail of the methodology that a householder can check for themselves is the call-handling threshold. Under the Citizens Advice methodology, answering the phone in under 5 minutes equates to one star¹. The measure is therefore not a general impression of friendliness; it is built from operational measures a supplier either hits or misses.

Ofgem's consumer standards decision sets out what suppliers' contact arrangements are expected to deliver. Enquiry services must:

• be available via contact methods that meet customer needs
• be open at times that meet customer needs
• be free for customers struggling to pay their energy bills
• prioritise vulnerable customers who need immediate support, or their representatives¹

Read against those obligations, the star rating is best understood as a compliance-adjacent score rather than a satisfaction score. A supplier can hold a respectable rating while individual customers have poor experiences, because the rating aggregates across a customer base that in any period is mostly not in contact with the supplier at all.

Because suppliers are compelled to publish their own performance against the measure, the rating is usually visible on a supplier's own site as well as in Citizens Advice's table. The date attached to the figure matters more than the figure: results are periodic, not live, and a supplier that has changed its contact-centre staffing may move between publications. Anyone comparing suppliers should note the period each score covers, as they do with the supplier-level survey waves discussed below. Further detail on the escalation rights that sit behind these measures is set out in switching compensation and guaranteed standards.

The complaints data behind the ratings

Complaint volumes are low and complaint satisfaction is poor. In the January 2025 wave, 6% of respondents reported making a complaint to their supplier, a proportion described as stable, while satisfaction with how the complaint was handled stood at 44% and was characterised as low⁴. Earlier survey work found satisfaction with the time taken to reach the end of the complaints process at 37% in July 2024, against 78% satisfaction with the information consumers had received from their supplier in the same wave¹². The gap between those two numbers is the shape of the problem: routine communication works reasonably well, and resolution does not.

What people complain about has been consistent. Billing issues accounted for 31% of complaints among Great Britain domestic bill-payers in the second quarter of 2021¹³. Ofgem's own list of matters to take to a supplier tracks the same ground: late, incorrect or missing bills, back billing, being overcharged, a faulty meter, poor customer service, and refusing to refund credit from an account¹⁴.

Expectations are also low to begin with. Research into guaranteed standards of performance found that all participants had low expectations of customer service from their energy supplier because of previous experiences within a range of different sectors¹⁵. That finding should temper any reading of a high satisfaction score, because satisfaction is measured against what people expect rather than against an absolute standard.

The most recent supplier-level reading is more positive on the top end: in July/August 2025, 40% of domestic energy consumers in Great Britain reported being very satisfied with their supplier's customer service⁷. Against that, the same wave identified four large suppliers below average, and the January 2026 wave three⁵.

Company profiles for several of these are held separately: EDF, E.ON Next and ScottishPower.

Ofgem's compliance reviews: where the regulator found weaknesses

Survey scores describe how customers feel. Compliance reviews describe what Ofgem found when it looked at supplier processes, and they name names.

Ofgem's Market Compliance Review of customer service and complaints handling, completed in February 2023, placed eleven suppliers in a category of moderate weaknesses: British Gas, E Gas & Electricity, EDF, Good Energy, Outfox the Market, OVO, Scottish Power, SO Energy, Utilita, Utility Warehouse and Tru Energy¹⁶. A separate Market Compliance Review assessed how suppliers support customers in vulnerable situations¹⁷.

The rules those reviews test against are specific. Ofgem's self-disconnection and self-rationing decision of 19 October 2020 required energy suppliers to identify self-disconnecting and vulnerable customers and offer them credit and additional support, including emergency and friendly-hours credit and additional support credit for vulnerable customers, and updated the Ability to Pay principles in the supply licence¹⁸. Government guidance states that where a customer has vulnerable needs, "those needs should be proactively identified by energy suppliers, and additional support provided wherever appropriate"¹⁹. On back billing, Ofgem said of Standard Licence Condition 21BA that it would review compliance and, where the requirements were not applied correctly, "we will investigate further and take action to ensure compliance and provide redress to any disadvantaged consumers"²⁰.

Ofgem has since tied service quality to debt policy, stating that it expects suppliers "to demonstrate excellent customer service as part of their strategies for driving down consumer energy debt"²¹.

Related detail on the obligations themselves sits in what suppliers must do for vulnerable customers and supplier conduct on prepayment meters and customer debt.

What the ratings tell you before you switch, and what they do not

Ofgem's research into tariff choices shows ratings genuinely change behaviour, and at a clear threshold. Suppliers that fell to 3.5 stars or below for customer service rating became less appealing to consumers in the experiment²². Consumers who rate their current supplier at 3.5 stars or less are more inclined to switch across all rating levels presented, while those who highly rate their current supplier, especially at 5 stars, show greater resistance to switching, particularly to deals with poor customer service²².

What a rating cannot do is predict an individual experience. It is an average across a large customer base in a past period, weighted by measures such as call answering time¹. It does not capture how a supplier handles an unusual meter, a disputed debt or a bereavement. Nor does it cover the whole market: the domestic ratings apply to a fraction of the 23 domestic and 72 business suppliers recorded as active², so smaller and newer brands may have no published score at all.

Ratings are also silent on financial resilience, which is a separate risk. When a supplier ceases trading, Ofgem appoints another supplier to provide the energy supply, to prevent a drop in service to customers¹⁰. Advice issued when Toto Energy collapsed told affected customers not to switch to another energy supplier until a new one had been appointed and they had been contacted by them, and to take a meter reading ready for when the new supplier makes contact²³. A well-rated supplier can still fail; see energy supplier failures and supplier of last resort.

For a household thinking in terms of independence, the honest reading is narrow. A high service score reduces the friction of a relationship you cannot exit while you are on the grid. It does not reduce the dependence itself: billing, metering, debt terms and the price cap all remain in the supplier's and the regulator's hands. Only reducing consumption or generating on site shifts that balance, a point developed in energy suppliers and household energy independence.

Where to get help with a supplier problem

The Citizens Advice consumer service is free and covers consumers in England and Wales with problems with energy bills or supply¹⁴. It offers information and support on struggling to pay bills, problems with an energy supplier or energy supply, saving energy at home and getting a better energy deal²⁴.

Guidance is not consistent on the Welsh-language number, with a different number appearing in other published material, so the number shown on current official guidance should be checked before calling.

Scotland and Northern Ireland are served by their own bodies, covered in energy consumer bodies. In Northern Ireland, suppliers are expected to refer customers who are struggling to pay bills to organisations such as Advice NI, which offers free, independent debt advice, and to reassess or cut debt repayment and bill payments for domestic customers in financial trouble, as well as offering advice on more efficient use of energy²⁸. Across Great Britain, a household struggling to pay, or expecting to, can ask a supplier to agree a payment plan, payment break or reduction, to review current payments and debt repayments, and to give access to hardship funds²⁶.

The Extra Help Unit: when your case is taken on for you

The Extra Help Unit is not an advice line. It supports vulnerable consumers by raising complaints with energy suppliers on their behalf, particularly where there is a risk of disconnection or complex personal circumstances²⁹.

Referral comes through the Citizens Advice consumer service, which may pass a case to the unit where the person¹⁴:

• needs support with a difficult or urgent complaint
• cannot deal with their energy supplier on their own due to personal circumstances
• is considered vulnerable
• is at risk of being disconnected from an energy supply

The practical difference is representation. Where an ordinary complaint requires the customer to pursue the supplier through its own process, the unit takes the case on, which matters most for the situations Ofgem's own rules single out: self-disconnection, additional support credit and the proactive identification of vulnerable needs¹⁸.

Escalating a complaint: from supplier to Energy Ombudsman

The route is fixed, and the first step cannot be skipped. The first thing to do is log a dispute with the supplier³⁰, following its complaints procedure, the details of which should be on a bill or on the supplier's website³¹. The Energy Ombudsman is explicit: "Speak to your energy supplier first to raise a complaint, and if they can't help, we'll aim to fairly and impartially resolve your dispute"³². At that stage a supplier may resolve matters with financial compensation, an apology, agreeing to fix the problem, a refund, or providing an affordable payment plan¹⁴.

If that fails, the Ombudsman takes over. Its own guidance sets the trigger:

The service is free at that point²⁹. It provides an independent service, separate to Ofgem, for problems with an energy supplier, an energy broker, a network operator, a green deal or a heat network supplier³³, and it can process complaints for both domestic and small business consumers in the energy sector³⁴. Disputes are registered by searching for the name of the supplier, and the case must be raised against the correct supplier.

1. Raise the complaint with the supplier and keep a record of the date.
2. Wait eight weeks, or obtain a deadlock letter.
3. Submit the case with the supplier's name, the account holder's name, the account number and the date the complaint was first raised³⁵.
4. Send information and evidence relating to the dispute when asked³⁶.
5. The Ombudsman reviews evidence from the consumer and the energy company and informs the consumer of its decision within 6 weeks, then gives the company a set of actions to resolve the problem³⁶.

Outcomes can require suppliers to take practical action such as crediting or cancelling an account or changing a tariff, to make an apology, or to offer a financial award, or a combination of these, and recommendations may be made to prevent the issue recurring³⁷. One published case concerned a consumer struggling to meet ongoing energy payments under an agreed 12-month debt payment plan whose changing financial circumstances were not reviewed by the supplier³⁸. Where a supplier has failed and customers have been moved under the supplier of last resort process, the same clock applies: if a complaint to the new supplier is unresolved after eight weeks, the consumer can pursue dispute resolution through the Energy Ombudsman³⁹. Heat network customers should contact the heat network supplier first in the same way. The full process is set out in complaining about an energy supplier and in the profile of the Energy Ombudsman.

Service ratings alongside price

Price and service are not independent in how households actually choose. Ofgem's tariff research shows a rating acts as a filter on price: suppliers falling to 3.5 stars or below became less appealing, and highly rated incumbents held customers who resisted moving to deals with poor customer service²². In other words, a cheaper tariff from a low-rated supplier has to be materially cheaper before many households will take it.

The data supports treating service ratings as a risk measure rather than a ranking. The things a low score predicts are the things that cost money and time later: slow complaint resolution, which only 44% of complainants were satisfied with⁴, and slow calls, which is what the star methodology measures directly¹. The things it does not predict are price stability, the terms of a debt plan, or whether the supplier will still be trading in two years.

Two practical qualifications apply. First, published supplier-level indicators cover seven energy supply groups⁴, not the full market, so a like-for-like service comparison is not available for every tariff on a comparison site. Second, the figures are dated snapshots, and the below-average list changed between the July to August 2025 and January 2026 waves⁵. A rating quoted without its period is of limited use. Where price comparison is the starting point, energy comparison sites and brokers explains how those intermediaries operate, and the wider market picture sits on the suppliers pillar.