Before you contact us, you should notify your energy supplier and work with them to try and resolve the issue. If you reach the end of their complaints procedure and you and the supplier disagree, known as “deadlock”, you can ask us to help resolve the problem. You can also come to us for help if it has taken the supplier more than eight weeks to consider the complaint.
From Thursday 19th December 2024, small businesses will be eligible to access our independent dispute resolution services for the first time.
Who can we help?
From 19th December 2024, we’re able to help small businesses with a dispute with an energy supplier providing:
We’re able to accept disputes providing they meet the rules of our scheme (see our Terms of Reference for details). You‘ll need to follow your supplier complaints processes first. If you reach the end of the complaints process without a resolution, or if the supplier has taken more than eight weeks to consider your complaint, we may be able to help with your dispute.
Info: If your dispute is with an energy broker or TPI (Third Party Intermediary) please see more information here.
Common disputes
Our experience dealing with disputes means we understand the most common types of problems and how to go about resolving them as quickly as possible.
The most common types of energy disputes we see are about:
We’re not able to deal with disputes on:
Further details on cases we can accept can be clarified in our Terms of Reference.
Our simple process makes it easy to raise a dispute with your energy supplier:
*Before raising your dispute with us, please allow your supplier an opportunity to put things right as per their complaints process. Only once both parties have reached deadlock, or the complaint has remained unresolved for eight weeks or longer may we look into your dispute.
If we decide that there has been a problem, we can tell energy suppliers to:
However, we can’t:
*Please note our maximum award for brokers differs. Please see our page on information for disputes with energy brokers for details.
We don't set the price of gas or electricity - but if you feel you've been treated unfairly by your supplier - for example, because you feel you've been charged incorrectly or mis-advised about your charges - we may be able to help.
All suppliers who provide services to small business consumers must be part of our scheme. Search for your supplier’s name here to start your dispute.
Here are some useful resources for business energy advice:
Ready to raise your dispute with us?