Complaints Policy

Purpose and Scope

The Energy Agency is a charitable organisation providing free, impartial and expert advice to households, businesses and communities, covering energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable transport. We also provide project management services to Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords to deliver energy efficiency projects.

The Energy Agency is committed to providing the highest level of customer care possible. Our intention at all times is to deal with people fairly and properly. If you feel that we have not met that standard, please let us know.

Where there is reason to believe our conduct has fallen short, we want to be able to resolve any issues and learn from what has happened so that we can continuously improve. We aim to resolve customer complaints first time, to the satisfaction of all parties and without the need for escalation. We value all complaints and feedback and use the information to help improve our services.

What is a complaint?

We will treat any expression of dissatisfaction about our conduct as a complaint.

However, we ask you to contact us in writing as set out in the next section, so that we can consider the matter properly.

This policy covers complaints about:

  • How you or others have been treated by the Energy Agency;
  • The Energy Agency’s conduct in performing our business functions in line with our legal duties;
  • The Energy Agency’s conduct and compliance with its own procedures, processes and policies;
  • The behaviour of Energy Agency staff and members of our Management Board.

It may be the case that we receive correspondence, that in our view, does not fall under our definition of a complaint or does not raise any issue that calls for in-depth investigation.

This may apply, for instance, to:

  • Objections against decisions out with our control, for example, decisions on scheme referrals and funding;
  • Objections against steps, recommendations or decisions we have taken in compliance with a legal requirement;
  • Disapproval of the Energy Agency’s refusal to take action in a matter where we have no legal power to act;
  • Anonymous complaints;
  • Malicious, repetitive or vexatious claims.

In all cases noted above we will give brief reasons for our views, but having done so once, will not normally engage in further correspondence on the merits of the position we have taken.

We will not reply to rude or abusive emails, calls or letters.

How to Complain

To make a complaint against the Energy Agency, please communicate your complaint to us via one of the following methods:

Please include your name, address and contact details in your complaint.

It will help us to deal quickly and fully with your complaint if you state that you are making a formal complaint and set out your concerns as clearly as possible.

What to expect

Our policy is to take legitimate complaints seriously and deal with them according to the procedures set out in this policy.

  • STAGE 1

We will send an acknowledgment of your complaint within two working days. Your complaint will be passed to an appropriate person who was not involved in the events which led to the complaint and who is in a position and has the relevant experience to consider the complaint.

We will aim to respond as soon as possible, and in any event within 10 working days. We may need to contact you to ask for more information or clarity before making a Final Response.  If your complaint requires further investigation that means we cannot provide a Final Response within 10 working days, we will notify you in the interim to keep you informed.

When we provide you with a Final Response, we will clearly set out the steps we took in investigating the complaint along with our views and reasons for our response.  Where we identify mistakes in our approach we will acknowledge those mistakes, set out details of remedial steps or changes we think are appropriate in the circumstances, and explain what we will do to prevent the problem from reoccurring.

We will also indicate your right to request a review of your complaint if you are not satisfied with our response.

  • STAGE 2

We expect most complaints to be resolved at Stage One. However, if you consider the response you have received is not fair or appropriate, you may contact us to request a review of your complaint. 

For us to consider a review of your complaint, you must set out valid reasons why you believe the Stage One response is not fair or appropriate.

You should do this within 20 working days of receiving a Stage One response.

We will acknowledge your request to review the complaint within two working days of receipt. We will aim to respond in full within 20 working days.