Making a complaint

At Southend Energy, we’re committed to making sure that you receive an excellent service from us as well as striving hard to get things right first time for our customers. However, we know that occasionally we may get things wrong. If we get things wrong just give us a call and we’ll make sure that we put things right for you quickly.

If however, you do decide to make a complaint about any aspect of our service, please rest assured that we’ll take your complaint seriously, work hard to resolve the problem and learn from your feedback to improve the way we deliver our services in the future.

We’ll also keep you informed throughout the process so you know what is happening every step of the way. If your complaint relates to a problem with the delivery of your gas or electricity, we will pass it on to your network supply operator to investigate, as they are responsible for this.

If you’re not happy with our service, get in touch straight away so we can fix it for you. You can do this by:

  • Calling us on 0800 953 0164
  • Emailing us at 
  • Writing to us at Southend Energy, PO Box 10461, Nottingham, NG1 9JS.

To resolve your complaint, we’ll:

  • Give you an explanation as to what went wrong
  • Put things right quickly
  • Apologise if we’ve made a mistake
  • Offer compensation (if it’s appropriate).

We are different from other energy suppliers as our supply partner is a not for profit company and will only pay compensation where financial harm has been caused by us or our business partners

If you’re still not happy. We’ll talk to you about how we can work together to sort it out. You can also ask us to undertake an internal review of how we are handling your complaint. We’ll work hard to try and get a result that you’re happy with, but if you’re not, we’ll look into things again and you’ll receive what is called a ‘Final response’ (also known as a Deadlock Letter).

This stage means that we haven’t been able to resolve things for you. In the letter, we’ll recap what’s happened as well as what we’ve suggested and give you contact details for the Energy Ombudsman should you wish to take it further.

If you need independent advice

It’s easy to get independent advice about your energy supply. The Citizens Advice consumer service gives free, confidential and impartial advice. You can get in touch with them for advice at any time during the complaints process.

Visit: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/energy

Or call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline 03454 04 05 06 (textphone 18001 03454 04 05 06) or submit a query online

The Energy Ombudsman

This is an independent organisation that offers a free and independent service to help resolve things between us once you’ve received a final response from us; or if eight weeks have elapsed since you made your complaint and things haven’t been fixed.

They will make their independent decision and if you agree, we have to act in the way they say. This may mean that we have to apologise, explain what has gone wrong, correct the problem or give you a financial award.

You do not have to accept their decision but it is binding on us. You can contact the Energy Ombudsman by

  • Calling on 0330 440 1624
  • Textphone on 0330 0440 1600• Fax on 0300 440 1624
  • Email at 
  • Writing a letter to Ombudsman Service: Energy, PO Box 966, Warrington, WA4 9DF

To find out more about the Energy Ombudsman visit www.ombudsman-services.org/energy

Southend energy - Our mission

The first local authority-owned energy company in Essex, we're proud to serve the people of Southend and Essex.

local energy

Local energy

We want everyone in Southend and Essex to get their energy as cheaply as possible. Our prices are always as low as we can possibly make them and we'll always actively encourage you to choose our cheapest tariff so you don't pay more than you need to for your energy.

Find out more

Helping people

Southend Energy is not-for-profit. It means every penny of surplus we make is invested in helping the most vulnerable people in our local community, not lining shareholder's pockets. We want to eradicate fuel poverty so no one has to choose between heating and eating.

Find out more

Here for you

With a range of online support as well as our friendly and expert customer service centre, whatever you need we can help. From making your home more energy efficient to getting help paying your bills or accessing benefits let us know and we’ll do our best to help you.

Find out more