Complaints against energy firms and Irish Water soared by 51% last year - with a third of long-running gripes upheld.
A new report by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities shows its customer care team recorded a total of 6,608 new cases in 2021 – an annual increase of over 2,200 and the highest level in recent years.
The CRU said it also opened 221 complex complaint investigations last year where customers cannot resolve a dispute with their supplier – an increase of 10% on 2020 levels.
Overall, it ruled in favour of the customer in a third of cases of complex complaints.
The CRU said the most common type of complaints in both the energy and water sectors related to billing and account issues, customer service and metering problems.
It described 2021 as “a challenging year for many customers” due to the pandemic and notable increases in energy costs in the second half of the year.
“There was a 51% increase in contact to the CRU last year which is likely to have been driven by increased awareness of our consumer protection role as customers deal with the challenge of increased energy costs and see the impact on their bills,” said CRU chairperson, Aoife McEvilly.
In one case, the CRU awarded a customer €120 for breaches by their energy supplier of a customer charter for providing misleading information on the hours for lower night-time electricity which resulted in higher electricity bills.
The supplier customer care agent had incorrectly advised the customer that night rate usage was recorded between 8pm and 8am when in fact it applied between 11pm and 8am.
In another case, the CRU awarded a customer €280 over the failure of ESB Networks to respond adequately to complaints about the poor quality of their electricity supply.
The CRU said the level of complaints against the nine largest energy suppliers was broadly in line with their market share.
However, it said the proportion of complaints against Electric Ireland at 19% was notably lower than its respective market share of 43%.
In contrast, the regulator said Bord Gáis Éireann accounted for 28% of complaints, despite having a market share of 21%.
Panda Power recorded the biggest annual increase in complaints – up 65%, while the lowest increase was an 8% rise in complaints against SSE Airtricity.
The report showed Panda Power and Flogas had the highest per capita level of complaints at 1.8 and 1.78 per 10,0000 customers respectively.
Energia had the lowest level of complaints per capita at 0.23 per 10,000 customers.
Flogas had the highest level of complaints against it upheld at 0.81 per 10,000 customers.
The number of complaints about Irish Water rose by 56% last year to 374 with most cases relating to billing and account problems from business customers.
However, the number of complex complaints was down 23% to 17.
The CRU said the number of complaints against Irish Water could increase in future years as new legislation which commenced in February 2022 enabled it to investigate issues in relation to applications to Irish Water for new connections.
The regulator ordered Irish Water to pay compensation of €500 to a business customer for a series of failings in its customer care after he complained of still receiving high water bills despite having reported a faulty water meter.
The CRU said it provided a free dispute resolution service to customers with an unresolved complaint against an energy supplier, network operator or Irish Water as well as providing information about energy and water services including information on consumer rights and obligations.
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