OREANDA-NEWS. June 1, 2012. Scottish Hydro’s first regional customer forum took place recently at its Head Office in Perth and has been hailed a success by all parties involved.

Independently chaired by Sarah Beattie-Smith, Policy and Parliamentary Officer from Citizens Advice Scotland, forum members were presented with the unique opportunity for honest feedback and challenging discussion about the specific issues that affect energy customers in Scotland - with no topic off limits.

A range of subjects were covered, from forum members discussing their experiences with Scottish Hydro, good and bad, to the efforts Scottish Hydro has made over the last year to improve and build trust with its customers.

Scottish Hydro recently launched the second phase of its ‘Building Trust’ proposals, a package of ten new measures to continue momentum to build trust with its customers.  It has already delivered on its first ten commitments, including the dramatic simplification of tariffs, the introduction of a sales guarantee to protect customers from mis-selling, fairer prices for all customers and greater transparency into the costs associated with energy.  More recently it has outlined its commitment to offer every customer an annual energy review and a promise to ensure that pay as you go meter customers have access to the cheapest tariffs.

Senior members of Scottish Hydro’s Customer Relations team and Head of Customer Service, Jacqui Maxwell, were on hand to discuss the issues that mattered to the forum members and Jacqui is delighted with the success of the first meeting. She said:

“We made it clear that this was a ‘no holds barred’ opportunity for customers to tell us about this issues that matter most to them, what they liked about what we do and what they’re not so keen on.  We gained some really positive and challenging feedback and we are already looking at ways of implementing some of the suggestions the group made.  We’ve come along way over the last few months addressing some of the issues important to our customers, such as improved transparency, reduced complexity and even greater levels of service.  But we know there is still much room for improvement and we are determined our customers will have an important role to play in helping us achieve our ambitions.”

Jacqui added:

“We wouldn’t be where we are today without our customers and we are extremely grateful to the forum members for the time they have taken to be involved with this and their desire to play a part in helping shape the future of Scottish Hydro.”

Forum chair, Sarah Beattie-Smith from Citizens Advice Scotland, added:

“As the independent chair of the forum, I welcome the steps that Scottish Hydro has taken to actively listen to their customers.  Although the biggest problem for consumers is still the high cost of energy, with the average bill twice what it was in 2004, the customer forum provides an opportunity for customers to voice their concerns and make suggestions for how the company could improve.  The challenge for Scottish Hydro now is to act upon those suggestions and improve the service for their customers.  I look forward to seeing the forum develop and seeing its impact on Scottish Hydro’s policies.”