Yahoo Finance Considering switching? The best energy companies you've never heard of
A survey conducted last September by consumer campaigners Which? revealed the best and worst energy companies for customer satisfaction, and the winners will be unfamiliar to many British energy customers.
Of the 30 energy suppliers rated, the top scorers for customer satisfaction were mostly little known, smaller suppliers, while the "big six" – E. ON, British Gas, EDF Energy, npower, Scottish Power and SSE – all languished near the bottom of the table, with average or below-average scores.
According to the poll of 7,429 consumers, Octopus Energy came top with a rating of 80pc for customer satisfaction.
While the supplier is better known than some other firms on the list, it only has around 400,000 customers – a figure dwarfed by that of British Gas, Britain's biggest supplier, which has almost 13 million accounts.
Robin Hood Energy and So Energy were ranked in joint-second place, while Ebico and Tonik Energy came joint-fourth in the table. All of the five top rated firms were given full marks for value for money.
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Customer satisfaction was rated on customer service, value for money, accuracy of bills, complaints handling and how they help customers to reduce energy usage.
So what's the story behind these aforementioned unfamiliar names? We take a look below...
Octopus Energy – 80pc
Octopus Energy is a relative newcomer to the UK energy market, having entered it in 2016. Since then it has picked up more than half a million customers, and is the only supplier to be rated five stars by its customers on every measure Which? asked them about, including bills, customer service, complaints handling and value for money.
Last July, the company grew its accounts base by 100,000 by picking up the customers left in limbo after the collapse of Iresa Energy. Octopus also acquired customers from M&S Energy, after the duo struck a deal for Octopus to supply energy under the M&S brand after the latter's nine-year partnership with SSE ended.
In January, the firm revealed a £5m loss despite a surge of customers, admitting that it was still “several years away” from turning a profit. Boss Greg Jackson said the supplier was eyeing opportunities to buy small energy companies that were at risk of going under.
Robin Hood Energy – 79pc
Robin Hood Energy is a not-for-profit energy company launched by Nottingham City Council in 2015 as a disruptor to the big six. It supplies around 130,000 homes in Britain.
Because the company doesn't have private shareholders, it is able to keep prices competitive. Its primary aim is to reduce fuel poverty across the country by providing energy as cheaply as possibly.
“We know that one of the best ways to support struggling, low-income families is to help them save on their energy bills”, its website states, adding, “unlike big, privately owned energy companies, our approach is simple: no frills, no paid directors and no private shareholders. We’re not here to make a profit. We’re here to make fuel poverty a thing of the past.”
So Energy – 79pc
London-based So Energy was rated good or excellent value for money by 93pc of its customers, the highest proportion of any firm included in the rankings, according to Which? Its customers were also most likely to rate the accuracy of its bills good or excellent compared with any other firm included.
The supplier, which uses 100pc renewable electricity, is signed up to the Energy Switch Guarantee which promises to transfer a household's energy supply within 21 days.
Ebico – 76pc
Not-for-profit Ebico was founded in 1998 and supplies energy to more than 60,000 households in the UK.
Based in Oxfordshire, the small provider earned four-and-a-half stars out of five in a separate survey conducted last year on 17,000 energy customers by comparison site uSwitch.
Ebico has no shareholders, and the profits it makes are given to projects that help people affected by fuel poverty.
However, recent analysis by switching site uSwitch found that Ebico was introducing the largest increase to its standard tariff – 16pc – of any small energy supplier in Britain, bringing it to £1,227 a year.
Tonik Energy – 76pc
Birmingham-based Tonik Energy offers electricity tariffs that are 100pc renewable, made up of 10pc green gas and 90pc carbon offset. In 2018 its renewable electricity sources were 68pc from wind and 32pc from solar.
The supplier was rated five out of five stars for value for money and online customer service.
The company offers a refer-a-friend scheme, giving the existing and new customer each a £20 Amazon gift card for each successful switch.
