Guaranteed Service Standards
It is our aim to provide the best possible service to our customers. The Guaranteed Standards are standards of service set by Ofgem, the industry regulator. They are backed by a guarantee - you will receive a payment if they are not met, either direct to yourself or via your supply company.
We believe that it is important for you to know what levels of service you can expect from us and that we work to the standards described in this section.
In line with Section 39A(5) of the Electricity Act 1989 (as amended by the Utilities Act 2000), any Guaranteed Standards payments you receive will not prejudice your entitlement to any other remedy or action that may be due to you because of your distributor's failure.
| STANDARD | LEVEL OF SERVICE | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distributor's Fuse (Regulation 10) | If the main fuse between the incoming supply cable and your meter fails, we will attend your premises within 3 hours on weekdays if you notify us between 7am and 7pm. At weekends and bank holidays, we will attend within 4 hours if you contact us between 9am and 5pm. If you notify us outside these times, we will treat your call as if we had received it at the start of the next day. If we fail, we will arrange for you to receive a £20 payment. | ||||||||||
| Restoration of Supply during Normal Weather (Regulation 5) | If your electricity fails during normal weather conditions because of a problem on our distribution system, we will restore it within 18 hours of first becoming aware of the problem. If we fail and you make a valid claim within three months of the date the supply is restored, we will arrange for you to receive £50 if you are a domestic consumer or £100 if you are a business consumer. You will also receive a further £25 for each additional 12 hours you are without supply. | ||||||||||
| Restoration of Supply during Severe Weather (Regulation 6) | If your electricity supply fails during severe weather because of a problem on our distribution system, we will restore it witin the period prescribed by the regulations dependent upon the scale of the event: | ||||||||||
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| Multiple Interruptions (Regulation 9) | If your electricity supply fails because of a problem on our distribution system and you are without power for three hours or more on four or more different occasions in any single year (12 month period) starting on 1 April, you are entitled to a £50 payment. You must make a valid claim for this payment within three months of the end of the year to which the claim applies. In order for your claim to be verified, you will need to provide the address of the premises affected and the dates of the electricity supply failures. Incidents for which a payment has already been made cannot be included in your claim. | ||||||||||
| Estimate of Charges (Regulation 11) | If you require a new or additional low voltage connection, or an alteration to your existing connection, we will provide a written estimate within 5 working days if no extension to the system is required or within 15 working days if an extension is required. Where we are willing to accept requests by telephone for estimates, such requests are covered by this Standard. If we take longer, we will arrange for you to receive £40. | ||||||||||
| Notice of Planned Supply Interruption (Regulation 12) | If we need to switch off your power to work on our network we will give you at least two days' notice. (We will always give as much notice of a planned interruption as possible, even if we know we've already failed the Standard.) If we fail to give two days' notice or switch your electricity off on a different day, then you can claim (within 1 month of the failure) £20 if you are a domestic consumer or £40 if you are a business consumer. | ||||||||||
| Voltage Complaints (Regulation 13) | If you report a problem with the voltage of the electricity to your premises we will send you an explanation within 5 working days or offer to visit you to investigate within 7 working days. If we fail, we will arrange for you to receive a £20 payment. | ||||||||||
| Appointments (Regulation 17) | Should we need to visit you or should you request a visit from us for any reason, you will be offered an appointment during the morning or the afternooon, or within a two-hour time band. If we fail to make or keep an appointment we will arrange for you to receive a £20 payment. | ||||||||||
| Notification of Payments under the Guaranteed Standards (Regulation 19) | We will notify you or your supplier of any Guaranteed Standards that we have failed to meet (other than those for which you need to make a claim for payment). In any case, we will send your payment either to you or to your electricity supplier within 10 working days of becoming aware of the failure, except in the case of Regulation 6 (Supply Restoration during Severe Weather) when we will issue payment as soon as is reasonably practicable. If we fail to notify you or your supplier or fail to send a payment within the above timescales, we will arrange for you to receive an additional £20. | ||||||||||
Disputes
If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our service in relation to the Guaranteed Standards you can, at any time, refer the matter to energywatch, an independent consumer body set up under the Utilities Act to protect your interests.
They are able to offer free independent advice and will look at your complaint, but will expect you to let us try to sort it out first. You can telephone energywatch on 0845 906 0708. If your complaint is not satisfactorily resolved, you (or energywatch on your behalf) may refer the case to Ofgem, the independent regulator for the electricity industry, to request a formal determination.
Should you wish to make a claim or require any further information please contact us.
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