Calls to the company, which had averaged an answer rate of 3 to 4 minutes, had increased to 13 minutes since the introduction of the new system.  Thousands of customers were reporting delays of hours in getting through, or, in many cases, not!

Vincent De Rivaz, EDF Chief Executive has instructed Customer Service management to spend ‘what was necessary’ to improve responses…apparently to no avail.

Electricity regulator OFGEM is becoming increasingly angry at what it perceives as poor service.  It was reported that 1 in 8 of EDF’s 5.5 million customers had rung the Supplier to complain.  Already EDF faces the prospect of a multi-million fine from the Regulator following an earlier, separate investigation over their handling of customer complaints.

EDF have overtaken British Gas as the nation’s most complained about energy provider.  EDF received 126.4 complaints per 100,000 customers compared with 55.2 per 100,000 for B Gas.

This data should raise hopes that the high inflation of recent months will ease after climbing to its highest level for over 14 years.   The cost of living continues to cause concern, with inflation running at more than double the official 2% target.

The latest plan is intended to make more efficient use of water. The population of the UK is increasing, with more single households using more water per person than families.

It is understood that the aim of the changes is to encourage the water industry to focus on customer concerns and improve incentives to innovate in an industry that had become ‘risk-adverse’ .

Their bi-annual SME trends index uses factors including Bad Debt, Tax Arrears, Turnover and profitability to assess the financial strength of businesses. The index showed that it climbed to 0.46 in October, up from the April figure of 0.35.

Contributors to the survey indicated that a third of them increased staff, whilst 40% reported an increase in turnover, however, a similar number saw their turnover fall.   27% increased profits, but rising costs were reported by three-quarters of respondents

Scottish and Southern Energy own Southern Energy, SWALEC and Scottish Hydro.

SSE has over ten million customers.  Its generation facility exceeds 11,000 megawatts.  They supply three and a half million domestic and commercial properties in the UK.

Mr Huhne commented “Medium to long term supplies may need to come from gas to form a back-up for new renewable technologies, as historical supplies such as coal and nuclear power stations close down”.  He continued “Our analysis shows that it (demand) is likely to remain significant beyond 2030, particularly with commercial carbon capture and storage”.  It is hoped that OFGEM will report back by May next year.

A concern is that current gas storage capacity for the UK amounts to 14 days reserve.  By comparison, France currently has 87 days capacity.  It should be noted however, that reserves remain substantial in Britain’s off shore gas industry.  Increasing wholesale rates justify investment extracting Gas from deeper reserves in and around the North of the UK.

The Energy Company (UK) Ltd is pleased to launch its brand new website and news blog this Autumn. The site shows off their recent rebrand created by Denbigh based design agency Annakristen Ltd.

We would love your comments and feedback on the site and would be over the moon if you would like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. We look forward to seeing you there.