UK Electricity Customers Switching
October 17 2003
The proportion of UK electricity customers who have changed suppliers at least once since the full deregulation of the market in 1999 has passed 50%, according to figures released by J.D. Power and Associates. Also significantly, power cuts for the first time loom larger than price cuts in customers' priority list.
The 2003 UK Electricity Supplier Domestic Customer Satisfaction StudySM finds that the share of customers who have ever switched electricity providers has increased from 43 per cent in 2002 to 51 per cent in 2003.
Cost is still by far the biggest factor in switching supplier, with convenience (dealing with one supplier and bundling electricity and gas service) also a significant reason. However, for the first time, power quality and reliability is the most important factor to customers when rating an electricity supplier - previously supplier image, price and value were top of the list.
The study measures customer satisfaction with electricity suppliers across six factors. In order of importance these are:
- power quality and reliability
- supplier image
- price and value
- billing and payment
- meter reading
- customer service.
Overall customer satisfaction has fallen for a second year in a row, with satisfaction dropping in all factors except customer service. Scottish and Southern Energy ranks highest in customer satisfaction for a second consecutive year. Powergen, which recently purchased TXU, jumps from joint fourth position in 2002 to 2nd in 2003, making it the most improved supplier in the study, and does particularly well for price and value ratings. EDF Energy and British Gas also perform above the industry average.
According to Gunda Lapski, director of UK utilities studies at J.D. Power and Associates, customers are dissatisfied with service or simply lack commitment to their current provider. 'More than ever, electricity suppliers need to listen to their customers in order to prevent millions of apathetic or dissatisfied customers from switching suppliers each year. For companies seeking to grow their business, an opportunity exists to win over new customers with superior service, and/or more competitive charges'.
'Customer satisfaction with power quality and reliability and supplier image are down' adds Lapski, 'reflecting a significant increase in the average length of the longest power cuts, from 215 minutes in 2002 to 261 minutes in 2003... It is interesting that Scottish and Southern Energy was one of the companies commended by Energy Minister Brian Wilson for responding well to the effects of the October 2002 storms'.
The study is based on 3,601 interviews conducted in July and August 2003 with domestic electricity customers throughout the UK. J.D. Power and Associates' European headquarters is located in Guildford, Surrey.
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.
