IN Brief:
- Energy Ombudsman accepted 80,256 cases in 2025, down 14% from the previous year.
- Billing accounted for 56% of disputes reviewed, while Q4 case volumes rose 12% year on year.
- Proposed redress reforms could shorten escalation times and increase pressure on supplier complaint handling.
Energy Ombudsman accepted 80,256 cases in 2025, down 14% from 92,938 in 2024, but the annual decline did not run evenly through the year. Cases rose again in the final quarter, which was 12% higher than the same period a year earlier, indicating that complaint volumes have moved back from crisis highs without dropping out of the system.
Billing remained the main pressure point. The ombudsman said 56% of disputes reviewed in 2025 were billing-related, while back-billing cases were broadly flat at 3,216 against 3,238 in 2024. The immediate market shock that drove complaint volumes upward earlier in the decade may have eased, but routine failures around bills, account accuracy, and unresolved supplier errors are still producing a large caseload.
Supplier complaint handling is also still under scrutiny. 2025 was the first full year in which the ombudsman reported signposting rates, measuring whether suppliers correctly told customers when they could take an unresolved complaint forward. Average performance improved from 44% at the end of 2024 to 55% by the end of 2025, but the full-year average was 48%, with supplier results ranging from 25% to 68%.
The gap is significant: the service estimates that as many as 75% of people who could use the ombudsman do not do so. For customers and eligible businesses, the route remains the same. The supplier must first be given the opportunity to resolve the issue, but after eight weeks, or sooner if a deadlock letter is issued, the case can be escalated through Energy Ombudsman’s dispute process.
The non-domestic picture is beginning to shift as well. Since 19 December 2024, the ombudsman’s remit has extended to small businesses, and in 2025 more than 13,000 microbusinesses and just over 400 small businesses used the service. That is still a modest share of the wider business market, but it shows the redress framework is widening beyond households at the same time as regulators push suppliers to improve standards for non-domestic customers.
The next phase is already being set out in policy. DESNZ consulted in late 2025 on cutting the escalation window from eight weeks to four weeks, exploring more automatic referrals, and strengthening the ombudsman’s powers. If those changes move ahead, suppliers will face faster escalation, less room for weak signposting, and closer scrutiny of how quickly disputes are actually resolved.
