Record year for energy complaints

GAS and electricity suppliers in France have been ordered to become fairer and more transparent, after the number of complaints from customers increased tenfold in just two years.

The French energy watchdog says 350,000 people complained to power firms EDF, GDF-Suez, and their new rivals Poweo and Direct Energie last year, up from about 30,000 in 2007.

Most of the complaints are resolved by the supplier, but 15,000 customers so far this year have taken their case to the Médiateur de l'Energie.

This figure covers the first 10 months of the year, and already exceeds the 14,000 complaints handled by the regulator in 2009.

The energy regulator says in its annual report that the number of cases is "an extremely strong sign" that customers are dissatisfied with the current set-up.

It says people are frustrated by a system that appears to have become more confusing since the market was deregulated in 2007, with a multitude of suppliers now competing for trade.

Complaints made to suppliers were "not always handled in a satisfactory manner, especially in terms of response time", the group added in the report.

However, the watchdog has dismissed claims that energy firms are deliberately over-estimating households' usage, charging too much and waiting for customers to claim the sum back.

It says the methods used to estimate consumption have greatly improved, but it agreed with customers that bills need to be more transparent and overpayments should be refunded quickly and automatically, without the customer having to request it.

The regulator has also called on suppliers to alert customers if the tariff they are on is not the best-suited to their level of energy use.