SSE is, for the first time, publishing the total number of customer complaints about itself for the quarter between July and September made to third party organisations.

Energy companies have been criticised for not referring people with complaints to third party groups including the Energy Ombudsman Consumer Focus and Consumer Direct.

The figures, during the three months, show 2261 complaints to the Energy Ombudsman of which 187 related to SSE.

SSE doesn’t mind revealing this information as the number of complaints against it was just 8.2% of the overall total – despite the company having a market share of almost 20%.

Other complaints made to made by customers about SSE to Consumer Focus and Consumer Direct were 58 and 40 respectively.

SSE’s director of customer service, Tony Keeling, said: “Customers have a growing need for objective information and having access to a simple and clear comparison about the number of complaints an energy supplier received is a fair reflection of a company’s attitude to customers.

“We believe the way we deal with any customer who has cause to complain is fair and transparent and that is why we are publishing our complaints data on our consumer websites in a clear way.

“We now urge other energy suppliers to follow our example and provide clarity to all energy consumers.”

Luke Walsh

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