The independent watchdog that protects the interests of U.K. gas and power consumers said Tuesday that there is widespread dissatisfaction over the service small businesses get from their energy suppliers and singled out British Gas Business for offering the worst customer service out of the six major U.K. utilities. “BGB customers get the worst service in every complaint category except sales where they come out top,” said Energywatch in a statement. Energywatch has received more complaints per 100,000 business customers about BGB than any other utility serving the same sector for the last two years. It remains the worst performing company in terms of customer complaints, although the gap with its nearest rivals has narrowed in the last six months. Out of Scottish and Southern Energy EDF Energy, a subsidiary of Electricite de France, Npower, a subsidiary of RWE, Powergen, a subsidiary of E.ON AG; Scottish Power, a subsidiary of Iberdrola SA; and BGB, a subsidiary of Centrica PLC; no company received a satisfied rating from their customers in the research carried out by Accent. Four out of ten customers said they would not recommend their supplier to another business. Paul Savage, Energywatch Business Service Manager, said: “The findings highlight widespread dissatisfaction among small businesses when it comes to their electricity suppliers.” Small businesses cite poor billing and disputes over contract renewal as the biggest source of problems with electricity providers, Energywatch said. Scottish and Southern Energy was the best performing company in all complaint categories.

Company Web site: http://www.energywatch.org.uk