Should I stop paying my bill while my complaint is ongoing?

The route runs in a fixed order. You complain to the supplier first, wait 8 weeks or receive a Deadlock Letter, and only then can you take the dispute to the Energy Ombudsman². The Ombudsman describes itself as an independent service, separate to Ofgem, for problems with an energy supplier, an energy broker, a network operator or a heat network supplier¹. It reviews evidence from both sides and issues a decision, and it states that on average most disputes are resolved within 6 weeks of it receiving evidence from both parties³.

For a household, the practical point is that the bill and the complaint run on separate tracks. The complaint can produce a refund or a credit; the account balance still accrues in the meantime. Where the dispute is about a charge you believe is wrong, the correction comes through the complaint outcome, not through non-payment.

Why the Energy Ombudsman is the escalation route, not the bill

The Ombudsman exists to decide disputes, not to pause accounts. Its stated role is to provide an independent escalation route for consumer complaints, and it sits outside Ofgem rather than inside the regulator⁷. That separation matters: Ofgem sets the rules suppliers must follow, and the Ombudsman adjudicates individual cases where a consumer says those rules or a contract have not been honoured.

For heat networks, the split is explicit. The party responsible for handling complaints is the Energy Ombudsman, but consumers should first notify their heat supplier and try to resolve the issue⁸. The period after which a complaint can be escalated to the Energy Ombudsman remains eight weeks for heat networks⁹. From 1 April 2025, the Ombudsman can help consumers and small businesses resolve heat network disputes⁶.

The distinction between escalation and payment is worth holding onto because the two get confused in practice. A household that stops a Direct Debit to force a resolution is not using the escalation route; it is creating a separate debt issue that the supplier can act on independently of the original complaint. The escalation route is the one that produces a decision, and it is free to use.

How escalation works: 8 weeks with your supplier or a Deadlock Letter

The gate to the Ombudsman is time or a letter. Ofgem's consumer guidance sets out that you can complain if a reported problem is not fixed within 8 weeks, you and the energy company cannot agree how to fix it, you receive a deadlock letter, or you are not happy with the decision received². The Ombudsman's own wording is that you must have allowed the supplier 8 weeks to resolve your dispute, or have received a Deadlock Letter allowing you to escalate earlier⁵.

A Deadlock Letter is the supplier's written position that the problem cannot be fixed or that it believes there is no more it can do². It is not a rejection of your complaint so much as a statement that the supplier's internal process has run out of road. Once it is issued, the 8 week wait falls away.

The same 8 week threshold appears across the Ombudsman's case pages, which is a useful check on how consistently it is applied. Its eligibility wording for Westminster Council, for British Gas Trading, for Utility Warehouse Energy, for Capture Energy and for Vivid Housing is identical in substance: a Deadlock Letter, or 8 weeks without the complaint being resolved¹⁰. The pattern holds for housing providers and for energy companies alike.

For Feed-in Tariff generators, the route is slightly different but the clock is the same. If you are a domestic or micro business FIT Generator and a mutually agreeable outcome has not been reached after 8 weeks, the dispute can be referred¹⁵. The Ombudsman can consider complaints about FITs where obligated electricity suppliers do not follow the rules set by Ofgem¹⁶.

What the Ombudsman can decide: awards up to £10,000 and what it cannot do

The financial ceiling is high, but the typical outcome is modest. The Ombudsman can offer financial awards up to £10,000 for domestic energy disputes, or up to £20,000 for small business disputes and for micro business consumers, and it states that its average award is around £50⁵. The gap between the two figures is the single most useful thing to understand about the process: the maximum is a limit on the Ombudsman's authority, not a prediction of what a case is worth.

Awards are not only cash. In its one millionth case, the Ombudsman required the supplier to reimburse £240 for the emergency call-out fees paid by Eva and apply a £350 goodwill credit to her account and provide a formal written apology¹⁷. That combination, a refund of money already spent, a credit against the account and an apology, is the shape most successful outcomes take.

What the Ombudsman cannot do is as important. It cannot punish companies, dictate how companies operate, or issue fines⁵. It can accept complaints about deemed contracts for investigation, which covers the rates charged before a household has chosen a tariff¹⁸. Billing remains the largest category of dispute: 27,006 billing complaints were recorded in the first half of 2026, up 15% on the same period a year earlier¹⁹.

Parliament has been considering whether the enforcement gap should close. A June 2026 debate recorded a proposal for the ability to issue a penalty fee that will end up as compensation for consumers, to enforce decisions and hold suppliers to account²⁰. A government announcement the same month stated that the Ombudsman will be empowered to fine companies if they do not comply with their ruling, with new measures set to clarify the route for consumers to go through the courts as a last resort²¹. Those powers are proposed or newly announced, not part of the current award structure.

Cost, timing and evidence: what the process asks of you

Using the Ombudsman costs nothing. It states that it is free for consumers to use its service, and that its service is free to consumers looking to resolve energy disputes⁴. The supplier bears the cost of the process. That is separate from the bill, which remains payable.

The process itself has a defined sequence. Once you escalate your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman, it will ask you to send information and evidence relating to the complaint, review evidence from you and your energy company, inform you of its decision within 6 weeks, and give the energy company a set of actions to resolve the problem¹. The 6 week figure is the Ombudsman's own average for resolution once it has evidence from both parties³.

Evidence is the part households most often underestimate. The eligibility checklist requires that you have complained to the supplier first, waited 8 weeks or received a Deadlock Letter, have sufficient evidence including the complaint date, and confirm the supplier name matches the bill¹⁰. The same requirement appears across case pages: sufficient evidence to support the case, including the date the complaint was raised with the supplier¹¹. The date you first raised the complaint is load-bearing because it establishes the 8 week clock.

Where the Ombudsman's reach ends: who and what it covers

The Ombudsman covers both domestic and small business consumers in the energy sector⁶. Its scope runs to problems with an energy supplier, an energy broker, a network operator or a heat network supplier¹. It is not the route for every energy grievance, and it is not a regulator.

Two groups sit outside the standard route in ways worth knowing. Households that pay a landlord or site owner for their energy, rather than holding a contract with a supplier, should contact the site owner or landlord first if they have a problem or complaint²². Where residents pay a landlord or site owner by meter readings or estimates and have no contract with the supplier, they can make a complaint directly to the energy supplier²³. Households with their own contract follow the supplier's complaints procedure, with details on the bill or the supplier's website²³.

The Ombudsman's membership is not static, which matters when checking whether a company is covered. New entrants are listed as active from their registration date, and the scheme has expanded steadily through 2026. The service marked one million consumers helped in July 2026¹⁷.

For a household's energy independence, the Ombudsman is a consumer protection mechanism rather than a supply one. It does not change who supplies the gas or electricity, does not reduce dependence on the grid or on a supplier, and does not alter the standing charges or unit rates on the account. What it does is provide a free, independent route to a decision when a supplier's own process has failed, with a maximum award of £10,000 for domestic disputes and an average of around £50⁵. The dependence on the supplier continues throughout; the dispute runs alongside it.