At Utilita Energy we pride ourselves on delivering excellent customer care, but we understand we may not always get everything right.
If you are a microbusiness or small business and your contract is agreed via a Broker or other Third Party Intermediary, you can access an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme if you are unhappy with their services. More information about the ADR scheme is available at www.energyombudsman.org
Making a Complaint
If you contact us because you are unhappy with our service, we are confident that our Customer Care Team will be able to provide you with a quick and effective resolution. However, if we are unable to resolve any matter to a satisfactory level, our Complaints Handling Procedure is simple and we’ve made sure it is easily available to customers. It takes you through the steps involved in making a complaint, including:
- How we will try to resolve it
- Where you can seek impartial advice
- How to refer your case to the Energy Ombudsman if you are not satisfied with the final outcome
Complaints Handling Procedure
If you’re unhappy with our service you can notify us by phone, email or post:
Call our Customer Care Team on 0345 2072 000.
Email us at businessenergy@utilita.co.uk
Write to us at:
Freepost RTXA-BEUG-KLGH
Utilita Energy Limited
Hutwood Court
Bournemouth Road
Chandler’s Ford
Eastleigh
SO53 3QB
If you would prefer to speak to someone face to face, you can visit one of our Contact Centres and our aim is to ensure any issues are resolved by the end of your visit. Please contact us for the details of your nearest office.
Resolving your complaint
If you raised the complaint over the phone: Our aim is to resolve any complaint on the first call. All of our Customer Care Advisors are trained to deal with any issue, but if they are unable to resolve your complaint, they will escalate it to a specialist team or seek assistance from a manager. We understand that we may not always be able to resolve your issue on the first call. If your complaint requires further investigation, one of our Complaints Specialists will arrange to contact you back at a time that is convenient for you.
If you have informed us of your complaint by letter or email: We aim to completely resolve your issue to your satisfaction within 5 working days. A Complaints Specialist will always try to contact you by telephone before responding in writing, unless you specifically request otherwise. Please include your account number, name, contact number and full address so that we are able to contact you back.
If we are not able to resolve your complaint immediately we will tell you within 5 working days and explain the next steps we plan to take in order to come to a resolution.
Each complaint is dealt with on an individual basis so we can deliver appropriate responses and take a suitable course of action tailored to each individual customer’s circumstances. Typically the outcome of a complaint may consist of any of the following:
- an apology
- an explanation
- the taking of appropriate remedial action
- the award of compensation in appropriate circumstances
We may also provide you with an award of compensation in certain circumstances, where we’ve failed to follow our obligations in our Sales and Marketing practices.
If you’re unhappy with our resolution
If you’re unhappy with the way your complaint has been handled, we can provide you with an internal review of its handling to ensure that it has been or it is being dealt with appropriately. If you wish for us to conduct a review of your complaint please contact our Contact Centre Director with your account number, name, contact number and full address.
Call: 01962 679 022
Email: contactcentredirector@utilita.co.uk
Write to us at: Contact Centre Director, Utilita Energy Limited, Hutwood Court, Bournemouth Road, Chandler’s Ford, Eastleigh, SO53 3QB
We will endeavour to conduct a full independent review of your complaint and provide a resolution within 10 working days.
We do all we can to ensure that complaints are resolved in a satisfactory and timely manner, and go above and beyond to avoid unresolved issues. However, if you are still unhappy about the final outcome you will be able to refer your complaint to other independent organisations such as Citizens Advice or the Energy Ombudsman. Please see below for further information.
If you’re unhappy with the people who work for us
As your supplier, we want to always offer you the highest standards of service possible. In order to do this we aim to meet the following standards of performance to make your experience with us as your supplier, the best possible.
Making and keeping appointments
If you request an appointment or we need to visit your business premises, we will offer you an appointment within a reasonable timeframe and a maximum four hour time slot, during working hours, or if acceptable to you, a morning appointment up until 1pm or afternoon appointment after 12pm.
We will not rearrange an appointment less than 1 working day before the date of the appointment, without obtaining agreement from you to rearrange. We must also keep a written record of your agreement to rearrange.
If we fail to meet these standards you may be entitled to a payment of £30.
Distributed Payments
We may be asked by electricity distribution companies or gas transporters to pay compensation to you in some circumstances where you have lost supply.
The network company will let us know who is due compensation and how much. If you are identified as a customer who is due a payment we will let you know of this and make payment to you within 10 working days of us receiving the payment.
If we fail to meet these standards you may be entitled to £30.
Suppliers Payment Obligations
If we fail to meet any individual Standards of Performance, set out here and where payment applicable, we must for each failure, make a payment of £30 to you the customer, within 10 working days.
If we fail to make the payment we must for each payment, pay you a further £30 within 10 working days.
This also applies to failure to make the above ‘Distributed Payments’ (where a payment is applicable).
Independent Organisations
Citizens Advice
You can get help with energy problems. This includes issues with your bills or meters, or if you’re struggling to pay for your energy.
If you live in England or Wales, go to citizensadvice.org.uk/energyor contact the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133. Calls are free.
If you live in Scotland, go to cas.org.uk, or contact your Local Citizens Advice office. If you live in Scotland, you can also contact Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 196 8660 or visit energyadvice.scot. Calls are free.
If you need specialist support to resolve your energy problem, Citizens Advice and Advice Direct Scotland can refer you directly to the Extra Help Unit Service.
Ombudsman Services: Energy
The ‘Ombudsman Services: Energy’ can help if your complaint is unresolved by us as your supplier after eight weeks, or if we cannot agree on a resolution (we call this ‘deadlock’). We will write to you explaining our position and your right to refer your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman. The Ombudsman’s decisions are binding for any energy supplier.
The Ombudsman’s role is to help to resolve complaints. It is an independent service and free for customers to use. It has the authority to resolve complaints by requesting any or all of the following:
- an apology from us
- an explanation of what went wrong
- a practical action to be taken to correct the problem
- a financial award
If you accept the Ombudsman’s decision we are obliged to take this action.
The Ombudsman can also decide that the actions we have already taken, as your supplier, are suitable and no further action is required. You can decline to accept the decision and you will not be bound by it or incur any charge.
The Energy Ombudsman is approved by Ofgem, the UK gas and electricity regulator under the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007.
Contact the Energy Ombudsman:
Call – 0330 440 1624
Fax – 0330 440 1625
Textphone – 0330 440 1600
Website – www.energyombudsman.org
If you wish to pursue your complaint elsewhere, you are free to do so however, you would lose your right to resolve the complaint through the Ombudsman.
There are Complaints Handling Regulations in place for the energy industry. If you would like a copy of the Gas and Electricity (Consumer Complaint Handling Standards) Regulations 2008 SI.2008 No.1898, please visit legislation.gov.uk
To get a paper copy, simply call the Stationery Office on 08706 005 522.
Complaint Performance
We carefully record and monitor all the complaints we receive. We publish these results on our website.
We also report our complaints performance to Citizens Advice and Ofgem, along with all the other suppliers.
Download our Complaints Handling Procedure.
Alternatively you can ask us to post a copy to you, just contact us on 0345 2072 000.