How should an energy supplier handle energy billing complaints?

Respond as quickly as possible

Prepare your employees

Money concerns are often stressful for consumers so prepare your complaints handling staff to deal with emotional behaviour that can often escalate into verbal abuse and anger.

A company should understand that an erroneous energy bill can be traumatic for a consumer who’s already struggling with financial problems or experiencing other difficulties in their lives.

An angry customer rarely sees the person they’re complaining to as an individual human being. Instead, they will only see the ‘company’ the entity that has treated them unfairly and has caused unnecessary stress and misery through its mistakes.

It’s a fact that the vast majority of consumers don’t make complaints unless they have too as most want to avoid any conflict, so bear in mind that when someone does complain they will likely be angry.

Staff that deal with complaints should be trained in complaints handling and need to be assured that they have the companies backing too as dealing with angry customers daily can be traumatic.

Make it easy for customers to complain

An energy supplier should make it as easy as possible for a consumer to make a complaint. They should clearly list contact details on its website as well as provide several different channels for a customer to complain through.

Most queries and complaints can be quickly resolved via a quick chat over the telephone or online chat service. Emails should be responded to quickly (ideally in less than a week) and make it clear that all action is being taken to resolve complaints. 

Seek out the cause

Energy billing can be a complicated issue for some, it’s not beyond the realms of impossibility that a complaint about a bill could be down to basic errors both at the energy suppliers end and that of the consumer.

Try and work with the consumer to seek out what has caused the error in the first place. Many billing complaints come as a result of meter reading errors, so offer to send an engineer to the customer’s property to make sure that the readings are correct and to check whether the meter is working correctly.

Smart meters can greatly reduce the chance of billing errors as they automatically send the meter reading to the supplier without the need for human intervention.

Having regular contact with your customers can also stave off any issues before they arise. Conduct customer surveys and ask them what they think you could improve and on what you’re best at. Discovering the areas of weakness will allow an energy supplier to focus on those areas and improve them.

The main causes of energy billing errors

There are a few common reasons as to why energy bills can have errors in them. These include:

New or faulty IT systems – 

The introduction of new IT systems and processes can create a host of issues to an energy supplier. A company with faulty software is much more likely to produce incorrect energy bills.

Old and Faulty Meters –

Old meters can provide incorrect readings which in turn result in erroneous energy bills. Asking what type of meter, a consumer has can be a good indicator as to whether it’s likely to be faulty.

Faulty Smart Meters –

Smart meters aren’t infallible and can and do go wrong. A faulty smart meter providing erroneous readings is a fairly common cause for an incorrect energy bill.

Human Error –

Customers who manually provide their meter readers are prone to making mistakes or not bothering to read them at all. As a result, this often leads to incorrect energy bills.

Company neglect –

Many energy billing errors can be down to the energy supplier applying the wrong tariff to a customers account. Such errors can land a supplier in hot water with the regulators and Ofgem.

Incorrect Direct Debits –

Both energy suppliers and the customer can be at fault when it comes to incorrect direct debit amounts. Too small monthly payments can result in large energy bills later down the road and cause the customer to slide into debt. Too high payments can result in issues later on when the consumer wants a refund. 

Complaints can improve a business

It may not sound like it, but proving that you can quickly and efficiently deal with energy billing complaints will improve your reputation in the highly competitive energy supply market.

Happy and loyal customers can boost your company and lead to more people switching to you leading to improved revenue. Showing that you take complaints seriously will also put you in the good graces of the likes of Ofgem.

Reduce Energy Billing complaints with a CRM

Dyball Associates energy billing software and CRM system reduce the chances of energy billing errors as it provides a series of functions that minimise the need for manual interaction and delivers a seamless customer experience.



The benefits of using our CRM include:

• Bespoke bill design
• Automated bill production
• Email, PDF, electronic or fulfilment house bill generation integration
• Increase billing accuracy and reduce energy bill related complaints
• Manage energy bill warnings and validation issues
• View unbilled and manage revenue protection
• Reduce account administration
• Allows the integration with a chosen Direct Debit partner
• Flexible and scalable to your business needs



Further Reading

Energy Billing – How does it work?

Energy Billing: The Differences between Domestic and Business energy bills

Inaccurate billing most common complaint against Energy Suppliers

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