UK gas suppliers must improve service -regulator

LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - Fewer than one in four British gas customers are happy with the way their suppliers address complaints, a disappointing level of service that needs to improve, Britain's energy regulator said on Tuesday.

In a letter to the six biggest energy suppliers in Britain, Ofgem Chief Executive Alistair Buchanan said he was disappointed with poor complaint handling and expected to see improvements when the regulator looks at the issue again next year.

"It is in suppliers' best interests to ensure that service they provide is of high standard," Buchanan said in a statement. "This is clearly an opportunity for them to raise the bar."

While an independent audit commissioned by Ofgem found that suppliers had made needed investments in preparation for new complaint handling standards introduced last year, customers remained dissatisfied.

Consumers were especially unhappy with the number of times they had to contact the supplier, promises for return phone calls that never came, staff attitudes and the fact that companies often viewed a problem as resolved when customers believed otherwise, the audit found.

When it came to customer satisfaction, Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE.L) and E.On (EONGn.DE) rated joint highest at 29 percent, followed by Iberdrola (IBE.MC) unit Scottish Power at 24 percent.

Centrica (CNA.L) and EDF Energy (EDF.PA) were next at 20 percent while RWE's npower (RWEG.DE) was rated lowest with just 16 percent of customers saying they were satisfied.

Billing and prices were the most common cause of complaint among all customers with price-related complaints the most likely to be resolved on initial contact, the audit found.

The way companies handled complaints was a key factor in keeping customers, as 15 percent of domestic customers who complained either changed or said they were going to change their supplier, according to the audit. (Reporting by Michael Kahn; editing by Anthony Barker)