Energy firms 'still failing to offer best deals' - 14/02/2012

A number of the UK's largest energy suppliers are still failing to offer their best deals to customers who are looking to switch gas and electricity provider over the phone.

This is according to new research by Which? that investigated the deals that were on offer to consumers who called up the Big Six companies directly.

When it performed the same test in November last year, it found "serious failings" in the quality of advice that was on offer and urged enterprises to improve their performance.

However, when it repeated the process this month and asked for quotes on their cheapest domestic energy deals, it found only four of the Big Six suppliers had taken steps to achieve this.

While Scottish Power, Npower and EDF Energy gave accurate in advice in all of the 12 calls made by the consumer group over the space of a week - with SSE performing well in 11 out of 12 - British Gas and E.ON were still offering poor advice.

British Gas was only able to offer the correct tariff in four cases, while E.ON failed to inform the organisation of its cheapest prices on seven occasions.

Executive director of Which? Richard Lloyd said: "With some companies still giving misleading advice and quoting a different price every time, it's no surprise that trust in energy companies is so low."

In some cases, the investigation found salespeople appeared to be quoting prices that did not include VAT, which is against government guidance.

Which? noted VAT could add around £50 a year to bills in its chosen scenario and warned this practice may mislead people into thinking a tariff is cheaper than is actually the case.

In response, British Gas told Which? its advisers should have offered the cheapest tariff on every occasion and it is "reviewing the reasons for any inconsistent advice".

Earlier this week, the firm also announced it is piloting video chat calls with its customer service team in order to deal with enquiries more quickly and make the process more transparent.

If you want to find out more about gas and electricity and how you could save up to £389 in minutes, click here.

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