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Which? wants transparency in energy bills

5:57pm GMT, Tuesday, 2 February 2010

Consumer group Which? has called for greater clarity to be introduced into energy bills. Consumer group Which? has called for greater clarity to be introduced into energy bills.

Consumer association Which? has called on energy companies to follow npower’s lead and make energy bills easier to understand for customers.

Npower recently came last in a Which? customer satisfaction survey and as a result, the utilities company has adopted a new style of bill which includes a ‘jargon buster’ section and a clearer explanation of charges.

In a utilities satisfaction survey published in October last year, Which? found that npower had a satisfaction rating of only 28%, closely followed by British Gas at 38% and EDF at 39%.

In comparison, smaller utility providers scored much higher in the customer satisfaction stakes with Utility Warehouse coming top with a rating of 75% and Ebico in second place with 66%.

Which? is now urging other companies to make energy bills less complicated and confusing for the customer.

Peter Vicary-Smith, Chief Executive of Which?, said: “Which? has complained for years that many consumers are left scratching their heads trying to work out how their energy bill was calculated.

“We’re delighted that npower has responded to our concerns by making its bills much clearer, and we want other energy suppliers to follow suit.”

Npower’s new simplified bills will contain clear explanations of unavoidable technical terms and will explain how an amount has been calculated on a bill, and has even been awarded the Plain English Campaign’s (PEC) Crystal Mark for clarity.

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