Utilities ADR
Complaints We Can Deal With
UtilitiesADR can accept most non-regulated complaints about a provider that is a participating Member of our scheme.
You can use UtilitiesADR where something the provider has done (or failed to do) has left you out of pocket, without the goods or services you were entitled to – or if you’ve been treated unfairly.
We can only deal with disputes concerning ‘non-regulated’ matters.
Non-Regulated Matters: “Disputes that fall outside the jurisdiction of the primary utilities regulators and ombudsmen (such as Ofgem and Ofwat), where there is no automatic right to mandatory Alternative Dispute Resolution”.
If your complaint concerns a regulated matter, you must contact the Energy Ombudsman instead.
PLEASE NOTE: What UtilitiesADR can cover differs based on whether you are:
- A Domestic Consumer: A person who has energy provided to their home
- A Non-Microbusiness: A medium, large, or corporate business – any commercial enterprise that exceeds the specific thresholds defining a microbusiness, as defined below:
- An annual consumption of electricity of not more than 100,000 kWh, or natural gas consumption of not more than 293,000 kWh; or
- Fewer than 50 employees
If you are a Domestic Consumer:
Common examples of complaints we can deal with include:
- Boiler installations and servicing
- Combined heat and power services
- Plumbing
- Utility Switching Services (such as comparison websites)
- Drainage
- Electrical work
- Supply/distribution/billing disputes of LPG
- Supply/distribution/billing disputes of fuels
- Energy efficiency services
- Renewable energy products & services (e.g. the sale or installation of solar panels, cavity wall insulation, etc)
- Heat network operators
If you are a Non-Microbusiness:
Common examples of complaints we can deal with include:
- Boiler installations and servicing
- Non-microbusiness Rollover contracts
- Non-microbusiness Contract disputes
- Non-microbusiness combined heat and power services
- Utility Switching Services (such comparison websites)
- Plumbing
- Drainage
- Non-microbusiness electricity bills
- Non-microbusiness gas bills
- Infrastructure
- ESCo (Energy services companies)
- Supply/distribution/billing disputes of LPG
- Supply/distribution/billing disputes of fuels
- Non-microbusiness Back billing
- Energy efficiency services
- Renewable energy products & services
- Heat network operators
- Tariffs for medium/large and corporate businesses
These lists are not exhaustive!
If you are unsure whether we can help, you can still submit your complaint and we will assess whether it falls within our Scheme Rules.
Use of the UtilitiesADR Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme is FREE to consumers and can be submitted without the need for any independent advice or third-party representation.
Complaints We Cannot Deal With
UtilitiesADR cannot deal with regulated energy complaints, which must go to the Energy Ombudsman instead. These include:
- Domestic and micro/small business gas and electricity bills (businesses with 50 employees or less)
- Problems that arise from switching your domestic or micro/small business energy supplier
- The way a domestic or micro/small business energy product or service was sold, including doorstep sales
- The supply of energy to a home or micro/small business (for example, a power cut)
- Microgeneration and feed-in tariffs
Non-microbusiness (medium, large and corporate business) energy disputes that fall outside the Energy Ombudsman’s remit may be brought to UtilitiesADR.
If your complaint concerns a regulated matter, you must contact the Energy Ombudsman instead.
We also cannot consider a complaint where:
- The same dispute is already with a court, or with another ADR scheme, or has previously been decided
- The complaint is, in our view, frivolous or vexatious
- The amount claimed exceeds our £25,000 award limit (we’ll tell you if this applies, and you may choose to proceed on the basis that the claim is limited to £25,000)
- Dealing with it would seriously impair the effective operation of the scheme
For a full, comprehensive list of complaints we cannot accept, please make sure to read through our Scheme Rules.
UtilitiesADR can only deal with unresolved complaints.
To be eligible to make a complaint against a provider using UtilitiesADR, you must have already complained to that provider directly in writing and either:
- Received the provider’s Final Written Response
(otherwise known as a ‘Deadlock Letter’) - Given the provider 8 weeks to respond to your complaint
You must bring your complaint to us within 12 months of receiving the Final Response (or, where the organisation did not respond, within 12 months of your complaint to them).
If you’re unsatisfied with the provider’s response, or they fail to respond within those 8 weeks, you can submit your complaint to UtilitiesADR!
