E.ON (2022) review: A reasonable supplier for green electricity
100% renewable electricity for homes as standard but not the best ratings for some aspects of customer satisfaction
Pros
- A major generator and supplier of renewable electricity
- Below average complaints that are resolved quickly
Cons
- Only a third of customers would recommend it to a friend
Starting life in the UK in 1989 as Powergen, E.ON earned its (slightly) newer name after it was taken over by German firm E.ON way back in 2002. It was already one of Great Britain’s largest energy suppliers and a member of the so-called ‘Big Six’ when it took over another industry giant, Npower, in November 2019, making it even bigger.
At the beginning of 2022 it had a combined market share of 18% of the home electricity market and 15% of the home gas market, and it says it currently has around 3.8 million customers in the UK.
E.ON is also a generator of electricity. It has a particular focus on renewable sources, owning wind farms and a biomass-fuelled plant that generates energy from recycled wood waste, and also has an investment in solar generation. All the electricity it supplies to homes is matched by electricity from renewable sources.
In 2020 E.ON launched a new brand called E.ON Next for homes, and small and medium businesses, which supplies 100% renewable electricity. New customers start as E.ON Next customers and all existing Npower and E.ON ones will eventually be moved over to it.
In our Expert Reviews Energy Awards 2022 survey conducted in partnership with YouGov, E.ON did well for its bills and the speed at which it answered calls and was highly commended for both. Only 34% of its customers said they would recommend it to a friend, however – far below the 72% achieved by the top provider Octopus Energy.
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E.ON (2022) review: Customer satisfaction and complaints
Customer service
In our survey, E.ON received middling scores for its customer service as 40% said they were very or fairly satisfied. This compares with a more impressive 69% for the award winner in this category and the overall winner, Octopus Energy. It did much better than the worst of the suppliers we rated, however, as only 26% of SSE’s customers were satisfied.
Value for money
E.ON was at the lower end of the scale for value for money in our survey. Here, only 23% of its customers said they were very or fairly satisfied, in contrast to Octopus’s 53% and Utility Warehouse’s 40%. Along with SSE, it had the second-highest proportion of people who said they were dissatisfied at 42%.
Clarity of bills
The supplier was well rated for its bills so received a highly commended award in this category, with 74% of customers saying they found their last bill very or fairly easy to understand. This was still a way behind the top provider Octopus, though, which had 86% of customers saying it was easy to understand.
Customer contact
E.ON was also highly commended for the speed at which it answered calls from customers, answering 31% in five minutes or less. This was a way behind Octopus’s performance, however, which answered 53% in five minutes or less.
For replying to emails, E.ON was the second best among the suppliers we were able to rate for this. It replied to 45% of them in one day or less – close to the 47% achieved by the fastest supplier EDF Energy.
Complaints
Of the traditional big suppliers in our survey, E.ON received the fewest complaints per 100,000 customer accounts. According to the most recent data from the energy regulator Ofgem for the second quarter of 2022, it received 1,284 complaints. It was the only one of the traditional big suppliers to receive fewer than the industry average of 1,398 but was still comfortably beaten by the best supplier in our survey, Octopus, which received just 662.
Its record for resolving complaints was also good, with 77% of customer complaints resolved by the end of the next working day and 93% within eight weeks. This was still behind Utility Warehouse, however, which resolved an impressive 82% by the next day and 100% within eight weeks.
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Ofgem complaints data
| Complaints per 100,000 customer accounts | Industry average complaints per 100,000 customer accounts | Complaints resolved by end of next working day | Complaints resolved within eight weeks |
| 1,284 | 1,398 | 77% | 93% |
Notes: Data is for the second quarter of 2022.
Along with customer satisfaction and complaints, we normally evaluate energy suppliers’ tariffs but as you can’t currently save money by switching from your supplier’s standard variable tariff, which in most cases will be set at the level of the Energy Price Guarantee from 1 October, comparing suppliers on price is no longer possible.
E.ON (2022) review: Verdict
E.ON wasn’t one of the most highly rated suppliers in our survey of energy customers for recommendation, customer service or value for money but performed well on the clarity of its bills and how quickly it responded to customers on the phone and by email. It also received fewer complaints than many others in our survey and has a good record for generating and supplying renewable electricity.