Confusing Energy bills
As advised by utilityweek.co.uk – a which? consumer survey has found that domestic energy bills are full of jargon which leaves customers struggling to understand how much they actually owe.
The consumer organisation submitted a selection of energy bills to the Plain English Campaign – the independent group fighting for plain English in public communication, who described the bills as being peppered with ‘gobbledygook’ and highlighted the use of terms like ‘calorific value’ and ‘normal primary units’.
Around a quarter of those surveyed by Which? confirmed how they struggled to understand how much they owed their energy suppliers, where confusingly one consumers bill even used a minus sign for a credit amount.
One npower customer stated that he had very little idea how the costs were actually calculated, he commented:
“I went with Npower because it seemed cheap – but it’s so complicated I can’t tell if it really is”
Which? campaigns to get a fairer deal for all consumers whatever they are buying, and would like to see better bills that include an itemised summary box enabling consumers to see key information at a glance.
The big six energy suppliers have recently received some of the worst customer satisfaction scores Which? has seen – even lower than banking providers – npower came last for the third year running with 28% and British Gas was not far behind with 38%. It is the smaller gas and electricity suppliers who fared better, with Utility Warehouse gaining 75% satisfaction and Ebico at 66% getting the best customer scores.
Source;
Utilityweek.co.uk/ News/ Gas (Consumers say household energy bills are confusing)