Energy Supply Customers left hanging, but call waiting times are improving

According to a new report released by Which? the customers of energy supply firms fail to answer customer phone calls promptly, leaving some hanging on the line for over 20 minutes.

The consumer watchdog has slammed energy companies for the long delays faced by customers with a fifth failing to answer calls within 10minutes. Scottish Power was highlighted as the worst culprit as on average, callers must wait 20 minutes before they get through to a member of staff.

Which? attained its figures by making 432 calls to 36 energy suppliers to discover just how long customers are typically left waiting. Each company was called 12 times each throughout the day and week to gauge the average waiting time.

“Energy customers should be able to expect good customer service from their supplier, so it is unacceptable that some people are facing waits of half an hour or more just to speak with an advisor,” said Natalie Hitchens, head of home products and services at Which?

Out of the Bix Six energy suppliers. EDF was the best of the bunch as on average it answered calls within three minutes. Bottom of the bunch was Scottish Power, which left customers on hold for an average of 21 minutes.

According to Which? the five energy firms with the fastest average response times:

1. So Energy: 38 seconds

2. Together Energy: 41 seconds

3. Flow Energy: 45 seconds

4. Ebico: 50 seconds

5. Ampower: 57 seconds

Live chat support

More and more energy suppliers are now implementing online chat support but even here some companies are failing to respond promptly. The Which report also recorded how long it took before they received a reply using the services. British Gas was the slowest to respond to chat queries, with an average time of 7 minutes whilst Spark Energy was the fastest to react, taking just 30 seconds.

Despite the headline figures the report also shows that call waiting times are improving. During a similar test conducted last year the average waiting time was 27 minutes 21 seconds with the longest single time recorded being 72minutes.

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