Ofgem bans Solarplicity from signing new customers

SMALL energy supplier Solarplicity has been banned from taking on new customers by the industry regulator because of its poor customer service.

The ban will remain in force for three months unless the company can improve its services “in a timely manner”. It has also been prevented from

‘Solarplicity must get its house in order and provide a level of service that its customers expect’

increasing vulnerable customers’ direct debits.

The company, which was founded in 2012, has about 60,000 customers.

Ofgem warned the restrictions would be extended if the requirements were not met. Mary Starks, of Ofgem, said: “Solarplicity must get its house in order and provide a level of service that its customers expect.

“If not, Ofgem will take the necessary steps to ensure customers are further protected and will take the relevant action needed to do this, which may result in its licence being revoked.”

Between March and Sept last year Solarplicity abandoned an “unacceptably high” number of customers’ calls.

In response, a spokesman for Solarplicity said: “We are committed to meeting the expectations of every Solarplicity customer, but Ofgem’s decision, which was made on old historical data, disregards the vast improvements that we have made to our service.”

The company added that “thanks to substantial additional investment into our staff and IT systems” it had “significantly strengthened our account switching service, and the vast majority of our customers are able to switch their accounts well within the 21-day limit”.

Matthew Vickers, chief executive at the Energy Ombudsman, said it investigated 1,035 complaints in 2018 relating to Solarplicity, most centred on billing, and a “significant increase” on 2017 complaints. However, he acknowledged that the company had also seen a rapid increase in customer numbers.