Complaints
What happens if you are unhappy with our service?
At Utilita Energy we pride ourselves on delivering excellent customer care, but we understand we may not always get everything right.
If you are not satisfied with any part of our service, we want to know. We take all complaints very seriously and any feedback we receive is used to further develop and improve our service, staff performance and products.
Making a Complaint
If you contact us because you are unhappy with our service, we are confident that our Customer Care Team will be able to provide you with a quick and effective resolution. However, if we are unable to resolve any matter to a satisfactory level, our Complaints Handling Procedure is simple and we've made sure it is easily available to customers. It takes you through the steps involved in making a complaint, including:
- How we will try to resolve it
- Where you can seek impartial advice
- How to refer your case to the Energy Ombudsman if you are not satisfied with the final outcome
Complaints Handling Procedure
1. Please contact us
If you're unhappy with our service you can notify us by phone, email or post:
Call our Customer Care Team on 0345 2072 000.
Email us via our contact page.
Write to us at:
Freepost RTXA-BEUG-KLGH
Utilita Energy Limited
Hutwood Court
Bournemouth Road
Chandler’s Ford
Eastleigh
SO53 3QB
If you would prefer to speak to someone face to face, you can visit one of our Contact Centres and our aim is to ensure any issues are resolved by the end of your visit. Please contact us for the details of your nearest office.
2. Resolving your complaint
If you raised the complaint over the phone: Our aim is to resolve any complaint on the first call. All of our Customer Care Advisors are trained to deal with any issue, but if they are unable to resolve your complaint, they will escalate it to a specialist team or seek assistance from a manager. We understand that we may not always be able to resolve your issue on the first call. If your complaint requires further investigation, one of our Complaints Specialists will arrange to contact you back at a time that is convenient for you.
If you have informed us of your complaint by letter or email: We aim to completely resolve your issue to your satisfaction within 5 working days. A Complaints Specialist will always try to contact you by telephone before responding in writing, unless you specifically request otherwise. Please include your account number, name, contact number and full address so that we are able to contact you back.
If we are not able to resolve your complaint immediately we will tell you within 5 working days and explain the next steps we plan to take in order to come to a resolution.
Each complaint is dealt with on an individual basis so we can deliver appropriate responses and take a suitable course of action tailored to each individual customer’s circumstances. Typically the outcome of a complaint may consist of any of the following:
- an apology
- an explanation
- the taking of appropriate remedial action
- the award of compensation in appropriate circumstances
We may also provide you with an award of compensation in certain circumstances, where we've failed to follow our obligations in our Sales and Marketing practices.
3. If you're unhappy with our resolution
If you're unhappy with the way your complaint has been handled, we can provide you with an internal review of its handling to ensure that it has been or it is being dealt with appropriately. If you wish for us to conduct a review of your complaint please contact our Contact Centre Director with your account number, name, contact number and full address.
Call: 01962 679 022.
Email: contactcentredirector@utilita.co.uk.
Write to us at: Contact Centre Director, Utilita Energy Limited, Hutwood Court, Bournemouth Road, Chandler's Ford, Eastleigh, SO53 3QB
We will endeavour to conduct a full independent review of your complaint and provide a resolution within 5 working days.
We do all we can to ensure that complaints are resolved in a satisfactory and timely manner, and go above and beyond to avoid unresolved issues. However, if you are still unhappy about the final outcome you will be able to refer your complaint to other independent organisations such as Citizens Advice or the Energy Ombudsman. Please see below for further information.
What happens if you are unhappy with persons working on our behalf?
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Sales Agents (Door-to-door)
We are pleased to work with external sales agents who might knock on your door to offer you information about our services.
All representatives are trained to meet our high standards of service, however, if they fall short of these standards and you raise a complaint with us, the following steps are taken:
1. We will log all the details of your complaint and pass it onto the appropriate internal team to conduct an investigation.
2. We will contact you within 5 working days of your complaint being logged with an update.
3. We aim to provide you with a full resolution within 10 working days.
4. We know there are some issues that require further investigation in order to provide a full resolution. Our Complaints Specialists will keep you updated with the progress of your complaint until it is closed.
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Engineers
In order to deliver the best service possible, we sometimes outsource engineering work to external Meter Operating companies. All engineers are trained to meet our high standards of service, however, if they fall short of these standards and you raise a complaint with us, the following steps are taken:
1. We pass the complaint on to the engineering contractor, or internal engineering manager within 48 hours
2. You will be contacted within 5 working days of your complaints being logged with an update.
3. We aim to provide you with a full resolution within 10 working days.
4. We know there are some cases that may require a site visit or a more technical investigation in order to provide a resolution. Our Complaints Specialists will keep you updated with the progress of your complaint until it is closed.
If you are unhappy with the final outcome of either an engineer or sales agent complaint, there are independent organisations that can help. Please see below for more information.
Independent Organisations
Citizens Advice
The Citizens Advice consumer service provide free, confidential and impartial advice on consumer issues and can be consulted at any point during the complaints process. To ‘know your rights’ click here for up-to-date information.
Contact Citizens Advice:
03454 040 506
Citizens Advice
Consumer Service,
PO Box 833, Moulton
Park, Northampton,
NN3 0AN
To raise a query with the Citizens Advice Consumer Service - click here
Ombudsman Services: Energy
The 'Ombudsman Services: Energy' can help if your complaint is unresolved by us as your supplier after eight weeks, or if we cannot agree on a resolution (we call this ‘deadlock’). We will write to you explaining our position and your right to refer your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman. The Ombudsman's decisions are binding for any energy supplier.
The Ombudsman’s role is to help to resolve complaints. It is an independent service and free for customers to use. It has the authority to resolve complaints by requesting any or all of the following:
- an apology from us
- an explanation of what went wrong
- a practical action to be taken to correct the problem
- a financial award
If you accept the Ombudsman’s decision we are obliged to take this action.
The Ombudsman can also decide that the actions we have already taken, as your supplier, are suitable and no further action is required. You can decline to accept the decision and you will not be bound by it or incur any charge.
The Energy Ombudsman is approved by Ofgem, the UK gas and electricity regulator under the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007.
Contact the Energy Ombudsman:
Call - 0330 440 1624
Fax - 0330 440 1625
Textphone - 0330 440 1600
Website - ombudsman-services.org/sectors/energy
If you wish to pursue your complaint elsewhere, you are free to do so however, you would lose your right to resolve the complaint through the Ombudsman.
There are Complaints Handling Regulations in place for the energy industry. If you would like a copy of the Gas and Electricity (Consumer Complaint Handling Standards) Regulations 2008 SI.2008 No.1898, please visit legislation.gov.uk
To get a paper copy, simply call the Stationery Office on 08706 005 522.
Our Complaints Performance
We carefully record and monitor all the complaints we receive. We publish these results on our website here - Complaints Performance.
We also report our complaints performance to Citizens Advice and Ofgem, along with all the other suppliers.
Download our annual Complaints Handling Report and our Complaints Handling Procedure.
Alternatively you can ask us to post a copy to you, just contact us on 0345 2072 000.
Do you need to get in touch about an issue?
Lost supply? - please call our Emergency Line on 03452 068 999 so we can get you back on supply quickly! This number is reserved for loss of supply enquiries only (Open 8am - 10pm, 7 days a week).
03 numbers are UK wide numbers that are charged in the same way as 01 and 02 numbers.