UtilitiesADR
Operating across United Kingdom
If you have an unresolved complaint with a utilities or home services provider, we may be able to help
About the Scheme
- Boiler installations and servicing
- Combined heat and power services
- Plumbing
- Utility Switching Services such as comparison websites
- Drainage
- Electrical work
- Supply and distribution of LPG
- Supply and distribution of fuels
- Billing disputes of fuels or LPG
- Energy efficiency services
- Renewable energy products & services i.e. the sale or installation of solar panels, cavity wall insulation, etc
- Heat network operator
If you are a “medium, large or corporate business” which exceeds the small business criteria above, the complaints we can deal with are as follows:
- Boiler installations and servicing
- Non-microbusiness Rollover contracts
- Non-microbusiness Contract disputes
- Non-microbusiness Combined heat and power
- Utility Switching Services such comparison websites
- Plumbing
- Drainage
- Non-microbusiness electricity bills
- Non-microbusiness gas bills
- Infrastructure
- ESCo (Energy services companies)
- Supply and distribution of LPG
- Supply and distribution of fuels
- Billing disputes of fuels or LPG
- Non-microbusiness Back billing
- Energy efficiency services
- Renewable energy products & services
- Heat network operator
- Tariffs for medium/large and corporate businesses
If your complaint is about a regulated matter or you are a domestic consumer, or small (micro) business, you MUST contact Ombudsman Services: Energy – 0330 440 1624.
The following complaints are “Regulated”:
- Natural gas and electricity bills
- Problems that arise as a result of switching energy supplier
- The way an energy product or service has been sold, including doorstep sales
- The supply of energy to a home or small business, for example, if you experience a power cut; and
- Microgeneration and feed-in tariffs.
The definition of a domestic consumer is “a person who has energy provided to their home”.
The definition of a small (micro) business customer is a business that falls into the criteria below:
- An annual consumption of electricity of not more than 100,000 kWh, or natural gas consumption of not more than 293,000 kWh; or
- Fewer than 10 employees (or their full-time equivalent), and an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total not exceeding €2 million.
If you fall within the criteria above, then please visit www.ombudsman-services.org/energy or call 0330 440 1624.
If you do not fall within one of the above definitions, we may be able to handle your complaint.
To file a Service Complaint click here.
Alternatively, all complaints should initially be addressed to:
Head of Service Complaints
CDRL
Stratford Office Village
Unit 12 Walker Avenue, Wolverton Mill
Milton Keynes
MK12 5TW
Complaints should be in writing and should provide full details of the complaint, including your complaint ID number and the name of the Complaint Handler/Adjudicator where possible/applicable.
To complain by post, please download a paper complaint form adjacent to this drop down menu. Once you have completed your complaint form, please return it to us at our registered office address (CDRL, 12/14 Walker Avenue, Wolverton Mill, MK12 5TW) along with any evidence in support of your complaint. We shall deal with your complaint entirely by post. This may cause some delays to our standard complaint handling timeframes as set out in our Scheme Rules.
Please refer to our Reasonable Adjustments Policy contained in our Scheme Rules. To make a reasonable adjustments request, please either write to us via our support centre, by post or by telephone at 0203 540 8063. We will only be able to accept telephone calls for genuine requests for reasonable adjustments.
FAQ’s
Alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) is used to resolve disputes informally and confidentially without the matter being dealt with by the courts.
Adjudication is the ADR method that we provide. Adjudication is a cost effective, speedier and a less formal alternative to resolving your dispute through the courts. It is conducted privately based upon written documentation and evidence. An adjudicator who is sufficiently trained weighs up the evidence submitted on balance and reaches a written decision. The adjudicator will apply relevant laws and regulations, as appropriate.
If you accept the adjudicator’s decision within the requisite timeframe, it will become binding upon the company. The company subsequently has 28 days to fulfil the directions set by the adjudicator. If you reject the decision, the Final Determination has no effect on you or the company.
To ensure that our principles of independence and impartiality are upheld, the adjudicator has no direct contact with either party to the dispute. However, if you require reasonable adjustments to submit your claim, you may contact our Administration Team by telephone.
No, the whole arbitration process is conducted in writing.
No, there is no obligation to have legal representation, but you may ask one to submit your claim for you if you want to. Please be advised that you will be unbale to claim for any charges you may be charged for a solicitor’s service.
The ADR service is free to use.
You can submit a claim to ADR if:
- The dispute is with a company that is a member of the Scheme;
- Your claim falls within scope of our Scheme Rules; and
- You have raised your complaint directly with the company in writing and either i) received a final written response (known as a ‘deadlock letter’) or ii) afforded the company eight weeks to respond to your dispute.
The Award will be produced within 90 days of us receiving a Complete Complaint File.
The Final Determination will have no effect in law if you choose not to accept it. We respectfully request that you inform us of your decision so that we can tell the company. If you reject the decision, you remain free to seek alternative redress by taking your claim to court.
You and the company remain free to settle the dispute independently outside of ADR at any time before the Final Determination is published by the adjudicator. If you opt to do this, our ADR scheme is unable to be involved in any negotiations. If a settlement is agreed, you must contact us immediately, in writing, to cease the ADR process. We will subsequently contact both parties to confirm that we will be closing the case as settled.
If the company does not follow the adjudicator’s directions within the requisite timeframe, you should contact us so we can make further enquiries with the company. However, in the event the Final Determination remains unsatisfied, you will have to submit to the courts for enforcement. We are unable to provide any guidance or advice about this process.
How UtilitiesDR Scheme Works
Step 1
The complaint is reviewed and a decision made if it falls within scope, in accordance with 1.1 of the Scheme Rules. In the event that a complaint cannot be accepted, the complainant will be notified of this within three weeks.
Step 2
The complaint is passed to the utility provider, which then has up to 28 days to confirm that it either wishes to defend or settle the complaint. If the utility provider agrees to settle the complaint, the utility provider has 28 days to implement the agreed remedy (such as pay compensation). If the utility provider elects to defend the complaint, the complainant will be given 7 calendar days to provide any comment on the defence, if it raises any new information or evidence that was not provided in the Deadlock Letter (Consumer Response).
Step 3
Following the Consumer Response, UtilitiesADR will notify the parties that it has a ‘Complete Complaint File’. From this stage, no further information or evidence may be submitted by either party, unless the Chief Adjudicator of UtilitiesADR authorises such submission.
Step 4
At this stage, the complaint is dealt with by the Adjudicator’s office where a determination is made in writing. Determinations are produced within 90 calendar days of the announcement of the Complete Complaint File. If the complaint is highly complex, UtilitiesADR may extend the 90 day period, but must advise both parties of the additional time needed to make the Determination.
Please note: Oral hearings (ie: face to face meetings or tele-conferences) will only take place if both parties agree.
Ready to lodge your complaint?
Customer Assistance
Contact Centre
Our contact centre operates Monday to Friday, 9am – 5:30pm and is on hand to provide information and assistance for consumers wishing to lodge a claim or obtain an update.
Contact can be made here
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