Treating Customers Fairly

At Utilita Energy, we’re committed to delivering outstanding customer service and treating all of our customers fairly. Being open and honest is an integral part of our company ethos and we are constantly looking to improve our service to meet the needs of our customers.

Our Treating Customers Fairly Statement explains how we are meeting the new ‘Standards of Conduct’ introduced by Ofgem, the industry regulator, in 2013. The aim of these Standards is to improve the experience customers have with their energy supplier and ensure they receive fair treatment.

Our aim is to provide a service for our customers that is affordable, convenient and easy to use. We aim to provide all of our customers with free market leading smart meters which allow them to choose and switch between a variety of payment methods to suit, including Pay-As-You-Go, Direct Debit and Pay on Receipt of an invoice.

We will always treat our customers professionally and with courtesy.

How do we treat customers fairly?

• We deliver clear and transparent information – Our policy is to provide customers with written and verbal communication in plain English by using simple, easy to understand language without any confusing jargon. With many communication channels now available to communicate with customers, we have adopted this policy to ensure we deliver a clear message to every customer regardless of the method of communication.
• We behave in a fair, honest and transparent manner – Our ethos is to put our customers at the heart of everything we do. Behaving fairly, honestly and transparently is core to our mission of being an ethically and responsibly run energy supplier.
• We act promptly to put things right – We work to ensure complaints are handled efficiently and that we achieve a prompt and satisfactory outcome for customers whenever we can. In 2016, we made improvements to our Complaints Handling Procedure which has reduced complaints and led to quicker resolutions.
• We provide complete and accurate information – We know how important it is for customer correspondence to be clear and simple to understand, with all the detail needed in one place, and to provide factually accurate information so it is not misleading for customers.

Customer Services

We want it to be as easy as possible for customers to contact us when they have an enquiry. Our contact information is readily available on our website and customers can easily get in touch with us in a variety of ways, including:

• Telephone - a local rate number which is free to call from landlines and most mobile phones (subject to network provider)
• Email or Written Letter - We aim to respond to letters and emails within five working days of receipt
• Interactive contact form – available on the website
• Social media channels

What have we done to improve our services?

We have expanded our customer service channels and operations

We have a specialist business focused customer service team to ensure all queries are dealt with appropriately and efficiently, whether you are a new, existing or leaving customer.

We have a ‘Help Centre’ section on the website which includes guides for solving the most common queries, and also includes all relevant contact information for our customer service team.

We demand the best from our staff and contractors

We want all of our staff members –including engineers, sales agents and external contractors – to be thoroughly trained and able to provide customers with clear and straightforward advice to resolve any queries they might have.

Contractual information

We believe that all of our customers should understand, and be aware of, our responsibilities to each other. That’s why we have taken time to ensure that our Contracts, Terms and Conditions and written correspondence are written in straightforward plain English. We will always inform customers about any changes that might affect the price of their energy, and provide customers with any relevant information should there be changes to industry laws or regulation that might affect their account.

Renewal Notice

To be transparent, we ensure that our contracts do not automatically roll over when coming to an end. We send customers a renewal notice a minimum of 60 days before their contract is due to end. The notice will include information on;

• Current contract rates
• The price plan and rates for the renewal contract
• The proposed benefits

The notice will also include detailed information on our deemed contracts rates in the case that the customer does not accept the renewal offer and does not give a termination notice.

For more information on our deemed and out of contract rates, please click here.

We hope that customers won’t need to end their contract early, but if they do, our Customer Service Team are always on hand to assist with the process. Termination fees may be applicable; more information on this is available within the Terms and Conditions.

Our Team

We always strive to provide our customers with an exceptionally high standard of service.

We believe customers should always speak to an advisor who is able to deal with customer queries quickly and efficiently. New advisors go through an extensive training program before making or taking customer calls. They are then supported while they get experience.

We record every inbound and outbound call and we monitor the calls to ensure that our high standards are being met.

In all our training, we emphasise the importance of a customer focused approach in providing our fairer energy deal. We want customers to know when they call our specialist business team, they can speak to a friendly and attentive member of staff who wants to help and can advise customers on saving energy and money.

What we want to do going forward

We are working to develop and further improve our services to:

Continually provide customers with more benefits, more convenient, and better value energy service. We are striving to exceed customer expectations by offering more than is expected from an energy supplier.

We continue to invest in services, staff training and new technologies to improve customer experience. We also want to continue developing the various communications channels available to customers today, so it is always easy to contact us by any method. If you have any comments or ideas regarding our service, please contact us.

If you would like a hard copy of this statement, please contact us.

You can contact us by:

• Our online contact us form
• Via email at businessenergy@utilita.co.uk

Alternatively, you can find a range of useful contact details in our Codes of Practice.