Ofgem says it is “disappointed with the lack of progress” at ScottishPower in sending regular detailed reporting of a range of complaint metrics to the regulator, significantly speeding up complaint resolutions, and reducing the number of complaints to consumer bodies.

Ofgem has opened a compliance case into ScottishPower’s complaints procedures, saying it was concerned about the poor outcomes experienced by customers. The regulator said, “We have been increasingly concerned about the volume of ScottishPower’s referrals to consumer bodies. We have seen slow complaint resolution times leading to customer dissatisfaction and have been concerned with  the lack of ability to identify, understand and resolve the root causes of known issues to prevent further similar complaints.”

The regulator has begun investigating whether the supplier meets regulatory requirements even though it said it “has been working closely with ScottishPower on these issues … asking them to set and achieve clear improvement targets.” It highlighted lack of progress, although Ofgem said it was “confident that our intervention has resulted in more focus being placed on improving this area.”

If ScottishPower’s performance does not improve the regulator said it will consider taking further steps, including possible enforcement action.