Renewable energy specialists Good Energy and Ecotricity ‘setting benchmark’ in customer satisfaction

Good Energy and Ecotricity, two leading renewable energy suppliers, have both topped the annual Which? energy company survey of consumer satisfaction. 

The survey, which asked 8,525 UK bill-payers to rate their providers on a range of criteria including value for money, customer service and complaints handling, found that both of the green energy companies achieved an overall customer score of 82%.

This is twice as good as the average, with the overall score for energy companies dropping from 49% last year to just 41%.

British Gas and Npower received the lowest scores, with 39% and 31% respectively. 

“We’re obviously over the moon with this news as it shows how consistent we’ve been at delivering good customer service having been top over the last three years. This is good news for us, but more importantly, for our customers,” said Good Energy CEO and founder Juliet Davenport.

“It is also great to see that we’re sharing first place with another independent green energy provider, demonstrating that it is possible to be small and still deliver green energy and an excellent customer experience,” she added.

Ecotricity founder Dale Vince said, “The Which? survey shows what we all know to be true, big energy companies provide poor customer service.”

“We’ve all been there, wading through the endless phone menus, queues and scripted conversations.  At Ecotricity we think people deserve better.”

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd added, “Once again the biggest energy companies have been beaten by the smaller suppliers but there are no winners in a broken market that consistently fails consumers.”

In a statement, the trade association Energy UK said the standards set by the survey winners are “a benchmark for all companies to meet.”

In November, when the big six energy providers were announcing a series of winter price hikes, Good Energy and Ecotricity took the unprecedented steps of freezing their gas and electricity prices.

Both Good Energy and Ecotricity also feature in Ethical Consumer magazine’s list of the best green energy suppliers in the UK, with Good Energy coming out top.

Further reading:

Quakers launch initiative to buy 100% clean power from Good Energy

Green energy firms Good Energy and Ecotricity break mould with winter price freezes

Energy customers switching suppliers at three-year high, says trade body

Good Energy customer on BBC Question Time: ‘my energy bills have never been cheaper’

Ecotricity and Volkswagen unite to offer 100% renewable travel