How the Consumer Council has helped return over £1 million to customers in three years

Over the past three years the Consumer Council has helped to return over £1million to people through financial redress following energy bill complaints, travel disruption and lost or damaged postal items.

The Consumer Council is able to support members of the public who have unresolved complaints about energy, water, transport or postal services in Northern Ireland and has helped over 30,000 customers in the past few years with more than 24,000 complaints and enquiries.

It helped one customer in 2024 who had been struggling financially and found themselves in debt with their energy supplier. After reaching out for support, the Consumer Council was able to put them in contact with a variety of support organisations, such as Bryson Energy, and discussed the issues with her supplier.

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As a result, the customer was able to be moved onto a more competitive tariff, that would not normally be available to them and they are now able to afford their energy usage while also covering their debts.

In another case, The Consumer Council was able to get a consumer compensation from an airline after a pram was damaged when being offloaded from a plane. The person had contacted the airport involved who referred them to the airline, but never received a reply. After the Consumer Council intervened on their behalf, they managed to receive over £1,000 compensation.

In 2023, a vulnerable consumer who found themselves in debt due to electricity costs found themselves struggling to pay this off while also topping up the electricity in their home. After speaking with the Consumer Council and other advice services they were signposted too, they manage to get the energy supplier to write off £500 worth of debt while also helping the person access support at a local food bank.

Noleen Charnley, Head of Insight and Investigations at the Consumer Council, explained how the service works saying:“If you have an issue with an energy, transport, water, or post provider in Northern Ireland, make a complaint to them in the first instance to give them the opportunity to put things right.

“If you don’t receive a response, or are unhappy with the outcome, you can contact us. We will investigate the issue and do what we can to help you.”

Complaints that the Consumer Council can investigate:

• Electricity and gas complaints, for example billing issues, customer service failings or problems with your meter or supply.

• Transport, for example problems with airlines, ferry travel, or public transport.

• Water, for example billing issues or problems with water pressure or quality.

• Postal services, such as problems receiving compensation for items being lost or damaged.

“Over the past three years, the Consumer Council has helped over 30,000 customers, investigated 24,000 enquiries and complaints and advised and signposted over 7,000 consumers to other organisations,” said Noleen.

“Through redress, we have returned over £1million to consumers.

“If you have reached out to a company with your complaint and have not received a satisfactory response, get in touch with us.”

Online complaints can be submitted at: www.consumercouncil.org.uk/complaints/submit-complaint or email contact@consumercouncil.org.uk

You can call the Consumer Council on 0800 121 6022 Monday - Friday, 9am-5pm .

You can also write to the Consumer Council at Freepost THE CONSUMER COUNCIL

The Consumer Council’s website www.consumercouncil.org.uk has a range of free online tools to help households manage their budget including an energy price comparison tool, home budget planner and fuel price checker.

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