To mark the arrival of Alistair Phillips-Davies as the new Chief Executive of SSE we invited a number of organisations and individuals to ask a question they’d like him to answer.
Today, Alistair answers questions about SSE's mission to rebuild trust with customers.
Angela Knight, CEO, Energy UK
How do you think the customer can be shifted from passive user to active participant?
Alistair:
Very good question and a big challenge for you and I. Clearly we all want customers to understand their energy tariffs. Ofgem’s reforms will soon be implemented and the limits on the number of tariffs suppliers can offer and the comparison tools will help. I know you represent the whole industry, but other members of yours will have more to do to implement these reforms as we reduced our tariffs to four core products in 2012.
But tariff constructs are only part of this. Before you took over at Energy UK we introduced a number of measures to improve things for customers. Of these I’m particularly proud of our Annual Energy Review. Here we proactively phone customers to offer them advice on energy efficiency and tariffs, as well as trying to help them with their energy use. This personal approach really works as people don’t generally read leaflets in bills. They just check the money and throw away the rest.
One of my issues though about activity and passivity in the market is that too often this debate is only about how often people switch between suppliers. The UK has one of the highest switching rates in Europe which pleases Ofgem but for me this is not the right measure of success. We'd like to think that many of our customers stay with us because they like us. Switching is actually a measure of dissatisfaction. We should be working towards a market where customers are informed and engaged so they make smart decisions. That could mean adjusting their usage, switching supplier or switching to a better tariff with their current supplier. What counts is that they are making an active, informed choice and we should focus on measuring this.
One last thing, smart meters have a key role to play in all this and we need to make sure we get the roll-out right. I appreciate the work your organisation does in this area as I know managing suppliers who agree on very little can be difficult! But we do all agree that smart meters will give people more information than they have ever had before about their energy use and this will make them more likely to engage.
Audrey Gallacher, Director of Energy at Consumer Futures
How does SSE intend to rebuild its customers’ trust after the misselling fine from Ofgem? Can you elaborate on the process and policy changes that have been put in place to ensure there is no prospect of a repeat?
Alistair:
Audrey, can rely on you for a tough question! Winning customers’ trust is extremely important to us and clearly it won’t be quick or easy. I think customers are not interested in words but action so we have been busy making changes.
As you know through our Sales Guarantee we’ve been making good any financial losses suffered through past sales. The £5m fund we set aside is being used to pay back any customer who may have lost out and, as you know, we are making good progress here. Any money left over will given to energy-related charities.
But that’s the past, the most important thing is that we can’t ever make the same mistakes again. We’ve completely changed sales and compliance processes, created a new Retail division and brought in new management. Sales are now very different with a dedicated compliance team to make sure we always keep doing things right. There won’t be a repeat.
Out of mistakes comes improvement and we now have to move on and get back to raising the bar in the sector. We want to keep improving by delivering things like our Customer Service Guarantee, where we have put our money behind giving customers £20 off the bill whenever we fail to meet commitments like calling them back when we say we will, or offering them ways to reduce their bills. These simple things are actually very important and show why we have led on customer service for so many years.
Overall though, we have to show customers why they should buy their energy from us. We have to make energy affordable, transparent and easy, and do more for our customers. If customers experience this and see this, we will win trust.
Gary Evans, member of the SWALEC customer forum
With all the negative publicity surrounding SSE and the energy sector in general, how will your leadership ensure SSE goes "back to basics" and puts the customer back at the heart of your organisation?
Alistair:
I know you have met many of our customer service staff. Every day they make customers’ lives easier. We take thousands of calls each week and our staff are so committed it’s really quite humbling. They have always been “back to basics” and that won’t change.
To move things on a level though we need to get better at listening. That’s one of the reasons why we have the forums. I would like to thank you and the other members for the work you do keeping us on our toes and driving forward business improvements. The feedback you give is critical.
You know this, but off the back of your work we’ve already made a number of improvements. I’m particularly proud of the customer service guarantee, which I have mentioned in responses to other questions, where we promise to pay customers £20 if we don’t meet high standards of service, like, for example, calling customers back when we say we will.
I would also say that it is not just the retail business that helps customers. If you saw the work our networks guys did in the storms this winter, or the efforts that go into making sure are plant are available to keep the lights on, you would see that we have a serious customer-focus throughout the organisation.
If we are going to change industry perceptions though, particularly for retail we have to prove ourselves all over again and we are committed to this. For me though, I know that we will always get some negative publicity, that is the nature of today’s environment, but if we are open, transparent and customer focussed, then we know our customers will trust us.