LONDON/PRNewswire/ -- UK consumer watchdog Consumer Futures yesterday indicated that of Britain's Big-6 energy providers, npower received far more customer complaints than competitors, relative to the size of its customer base (http://www.consumerfutures.org.uk/news/consumer-futures-energy-complaints-league-table-shows-a-marked-increase-in-customer-complaints-for-the-big-six)

This data monitors actual complaints to energy companies, but does it reflect the much higher volume of negative word of mouth (WOM) that the big 6 brands attract?

Data from Keller Fay's TalkTrack^® research programme indicates that negative WOM for energy brands is on a huge scale:

• Every day in the UK, an estimated 4 million negative opinions are exchanged about one of the Big-6 brands

While Consumer Futures pronounced npower worst for complaints volumes, for negative WOM it isBritish Gas that holds the undesirable lead.  BG attracted 39% of all negative WOM among the big 6, comfortably in excess of its market share and well above the level of competitors even allowing for its larger customer base:

% of negative WOM for Big-6 energy suppliers ? 6 months to October 2013

Some may be surprised to learn that not all WOM about energy brands is negative ? over a quarter of conversations about them is 'mostly positive'.  It is here where npower really struggles ? only 22% of conversations about npower were positive, bottom of the pile.  This compares with 35% positive sentiment for EdF, though even this is well below the UK all-brand average (62% positive)

In summarising the research results, Steve Thomson, MD of Keller Fay UK, said "Energy brands have few fans, and generating positive brand buzz is a tough challenge in the current environment.  But not all WOM is derogatory, and the best performers in the sector do attract significantly more brand advocacy than their competitors". 

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SOURCE The Keller Fay Group