Customers should be put first by energy companies

POWER IS vital for our homes. The energy cartel has been broken up and many newcomers are now competing for this lucrative trade. Most households would expect customer service to be paramount to retain or secure accounts.

Green Star Energy is the latest to show it does not care. When a meter is replaced and a new reading given, a supplier should take into account any excess payments received. It can compare daily use when a property is empty with readings once occupied.

Instead of making such a financial arrangement, it has taken a high-handed approach and instructed a debt collecting firm to take action. This can have quite an emotional impact, particularly when the energy user is totally innocent.

Eventually, Green Star Energy agreed to recalculate and the result was a significant credit. It paid £340 to the user as compensation.

The firm was the trading arm of Hudson Energy Supply. Green Star was called Pioneer Energy until July 2013, part of the Just Energy Group which provides energy to residential and commercial customers across North America.

When the firm expanded into the UK, it declared its vision “to be the gold standard in retail energy delivering stability, value and innovation in every customer... relationship.” That ‘gold’ is tarnished.

In May the regulator, Ofgem, announced Greenstar Energy would compensate over 7,500 customers who had not received key information, thereby preventing them from switching tariff or supplier. The firm would also make a ‘voluntary’ contribution to a redress scheme.

Shell Energy has now purchased the firm which should bring its number of customers close to one million. Whilst many will relish a managerial change, the new owner will need to reassure them that cavalier behaviour is not its approach. It does not look promising as, once transferred, previous bills cannot be accessed.