Safeguarding Standards For Energy Consumers

EDM number 867 in 2007-08, proposed by Mark Todd on 04/02/2008.
Categorised under the topics of Consumers, Energy and Utilities.

That this House notes that new arrangements for consumer redress in the energy sector will be introduced on 1st October 2008; welcomes the fact that these will require energy suppliers to take additional responsibility for resolving their own complaints in a manner that adheres to a statutory complaint handling standard; urges Ofgem to ensure its formulation of the statutory standard does not diminish the protection currently enjoyed by energy consumers; believes independent verification of company complaints data is essential to ensuring data quality, transparency and providing sufficient incentives on companies to invest in improving their customer service, and must therefore be required under the standard; further believes that the standard should oblige companies to share their complaints data with the new National Consumer Council in a timely manner so that consumers can compare customer service performance when choosing a company; and calls on the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to reject any complaint handling standard that does not meet these requirements.

This motion has been signed by a total of 78 MPs.