Speeches by Onn.

“This is to the Energy Ombudsman, so Ed and Jonathan. Given that the ombudsman does not exist on a statutory footing, do you think that energy customers enjoy the same protections and means of redress as those in other sectors?”

“Do you ever take the suppliers to court?”

“If suppliers fail to enact your resolution or fail to enact it within a timely fashion, what recourses do you have as the ombudsman? Do they lose their ability to retail given that they have voluntarily signed up to the code?”

“Are you concerned about the proposals to reduce the time before complaints can be escalated to the ombudsman and to make referrals automatic, which might restrict the ability of suppliers to resolve disputes themselves? I am interested in whether you have confidence in the suppliers resolving the disputes themselves. C…”

“So they do not want things to come to the ombudsman. Perhaps that is why so many at Centrica have never made it to the ombudsman and why their process does not provide for that. In the last quarter of 2024 less than half of the cases where an energy supplier was unable to resolve a complaint were correctly signposted. …”

“You mentioned that you have about 27,000 complaints a year coming through and you have 5,000 agents. That is about 5.5 complaints per person. If one person is only dealing with 5.5 complaints a year, why do you think that it is falling down so badly?”

“Katie, do you have thoughts on this topic?”

“Is that what it is? Is it not trying to minimise the number of complaints that have to be issued in the first place?”

“Alex, do you think that we should be worried about the extent to which potentially threatening tactics are being used by energy suppliers against customers when they raise billing issues? If so, how do you think we should address it?”

“Do you think that happens?”

“Can I ask you about deadlock letters? Do you think that suppliers are using deadlock letters in an appropriate manner?”

“This is about making their response times reflective of the expectations.”

“What about for Centrica? What is the caseload like for your call handlers?”

“What does the caseload look like for the 380 people the ombudsman has? We can ask the ombudsman later presumably.”

“Thank you. Dr Roy, do you believe that Government proposals to cut the time before complaints can be escalated to the ombudsman from eight to four weeks is operationally realistic for suppliers and will lead to the best outcomes for consumers?”

“So they do not want things to come to the ombudsman. Perhaps that is why so many at Centrica have never made it to the ombudsman and why their process does not provide for that. In the last quarter of 2024 less than half of the cases where an energy supplier was unable to resolve a complaint were correctly signposted. …”

“Are you concerned about the proposals to reduce the time before complaints can be escalated to the ombudsman and to make referrals automatic, which might restrict the ability of suppliers to resolve disputes themselves? I am interested in whether you have confidence in the suppliers resolving the disputes themselves. C…”

“If suppliers fail to enact your resolution or fail to enact it within a timely fashion, what recourses do you have as the ombudsman? Do they lose their ability to retail given that they have voluntarily signed up to the code?”

“Do you ever take the suppliers to court?”

“This is to the Energy Ombudsman, so Ed and Jonathan. Given that the ombudsman does not exist on a statutory footing, do you think that energy customers enjoy the same protections and means of redress as those in other sectors?”