Npower apologises for poor service after Ofgem intervention

Npower is writing to say sorry to all its household customers for poor service caused by problems with a new billing system.

As a gesture, the energy supplier is also paying £1 million into its Health Through Warmth Scheme Crisis Fund. This helps people with cold related illnesses fund heating repairs and installations.

The company promised no customer would be out of pocket as a result of the billing problems and has set out a recovery plan to improve service.

Ofgem intervened after complaints about Npower rose sharply in the last year, to five times the number of the least complained-about major supplier.

Sarah Harrison, Ofgem senior partner, said: “Many Npower customers will have noticed a serious deterioration in service levels over the last year. The huge growth in complaints about Npower is wholly unacceptable and is an issue that Ofgem takes very seriously and is why we intervened in this case.”

The regulator will monitor progress in resolving the problems, which arose in three areas: setting up customer accounts, direct debit payments and billing.

Paul Massara, chief executive of Npower, said: “In recent months, we’ve let many of our domestic customers down and I wanted to write to each of them personally to say sorry. We have been in discussions with Ofgem and are working on this as our top priority. Although we’ve made good progress fixing many of the underlying issues, we still have a long way to go, and our customers deserve to get the best possible service. That is my commitment.”

When he arrived in post in January, Massara committed to take his company to the top of the customer satisfaction rankings by 2015.