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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment the Government have made of the trend in the number of transfers of fuel supply by energy companies without customers' consent. [68821] Mr. Wilson: The number of complaints about the erroneous transfer of gas supply received by Energywatch rose from 2,511--one and a half per 1,000 transfers--in January to June 2001 to 4,204--two per 1,000 transfers-- in July to December 2001. In the same period, the number of complaints about the erroneous transfer of electricity supply rose from 2,905--one per 1,000 transfers--to 4,837--one and a half per 1,000 transfers. Complaints about marketing for 2001 also include involuntary transfers that occurred as a result of the sales process. The number of gas marketing complaints rose from 1,201 in January to June 2001 to 1,753 in July to December 2001. In the same period, electricity marketing complaints rose from 1,776 to 3,116. Energywatch complaints figures will shortly incorporate erroneous transfers arising from both administrative or data error and mis-selling. Although involuntary transfers remain very low in relation to the level of transfer activity--there were almost 1 million registrations in 2001--the Government are concerned about the distress and inconvenience caused by erroneous transfer of energy supply. They welcomed the Erroneous Transfer Customer Charter, which came into force on 1 January 2002. They have also encouraged the industry in its development of an action plan to address mis- selling, which should remove a key cause of erroneous transfers.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

68821; 389 c347W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Complaints Consumers Energy supply Electricity Natural gas Misrepresentation Marketing Utilities

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk