Scottish Power (2023) review: A green energy producer with acceptable service
Impressive green credentials with reasonable customer service and value for money
Pros
- Generates 100% renewable electricity
- Below average complaint numbers
Cons
- Slow at resolving complaints
Scottish Power, which is based in Glasgow, was created in 1990 and has been owned by Spanish energy firm Iberdrola since 2007. It offers green tariffs that supply homes with 100% renewable electricity, and it’s also a generator, solely producing renewable energy via its UK wind farms.
As well as energy, Scottish Power offers boiler, heating maintenance and support plans, appliance care plans and home emergency cover, plus options for reducing your carbon footprint further, including solar panels and air source heat pumps. Its partnership with Cancer Research UK has seen it raise more than £35 million for the charity to date.
Scottish Power is also investing in the production of green hydrogen – an alternative to fossil fuels made using renewable electricity – to create a clean source of energy for vehicles.
The supplier, which is one of Great Britain’s largest, was in the top half of the rankings for most categories of our Expert Reviews Energy Awards 2023, and was highly commended in three.
In our survey conducted in conjunction with YouGov, 43% of its customers said they would recommend it to a friend – the second-highest percentage of all the suppliers we rated. However, the best one, Octopus Energy, achieved a much higher percentage of 79%.
Scottish Power (2023) review: Customer service
Scottish Power had decent ratings for customer service compared to its rivals, with 46% of customers saying they were very or fairly satisfied. As a comparison, the top supplier Octopus had 72% saying they were satisfied. Scottish Power achieved 14 percentage points more than the worst supplier, which was EDF Energy with 32%.
Scottish Power (2023) review: Value for money
Its customers were somewhat underwhelmed by its value for money, though it was still in second place for this. Here, 32% of customers said they were very or fairly satisfied – just half of the percentage received by Octopus. Once again, though, there were poorer suppliers in this category. The worst had just 27% (Shell Energy) of customers saying they were satisfied.
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Scottish Power (2023) review: Clarity and accuracy of bills
Scottish Power was in the bottom half of the rankings for the clarity of its bills, as 70% said they found their bills very or fairly easy to understand, compared to 84% for Octopus and 77% for E.ON Next. The bottom supplier in this category – EDF Energy – only had 66% of customers saying their bills were easy to understand.
Scottish Power did better for bill accuracy, as 44% of customers said their bills were always accurate, putting it in second place to Octopus’s 52%. Shell Energy was only slightly behind with 43%.
Scottish Power (2023) review: Customer contact
Scottish Power didn’t perform well for the speed at which it answered calls, coming bottom of our suppliers with only 17% of calls answered in five minutes or less. That’s way behind Octopus’s performance of 42% of calls in the same period and only slightly behind EDF (18%).
We weren’t able to rate Scottish Power for how quickly it responded to customers contacting it online or by email as it didn’t have enough respondents in these areas.
Scottish Power (2023) review: Complaints
Scottish Power had a below average number of complaints, according to the most recent data from the energy regulator Ofgem for the third quarter of 2023. It received 1,305 per 100,000 customer accounts, while the industry average was 1,578. Octopus Energy and Shell Energy received fewer, however, with 1,133 and 1,180 respectively.
For resolving complaints, Scottish Power was also among the worst. It only managed to resolve 60% of them by the end of the next working day and 85% within eight weeks. The best supplier, Ovo Energy, managed to address 80% and 97% of complaints within these timeframes.
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 |
| 1,305 | 1,578 | 60% | 85% |
Notes: Data is for the third quarter of 2023
Along with customer satisfaction and complaints, the cost of energy suppliers’ tariffs will also determine whether they’re worth switching to. There are currently very few deals that are likely to save you money compared to your suppliers’ standard variable tariffs, which are subject to the price cap set by Ofgem, and many of the best deals on offer right now are for existing customers only.
To compare costs, you should see what your current suppliers are offering existing customers as well as gathering quotes to find out how much tariffs from different suppliers will cost you based on your energy usage. For more on how to get the best deal, visit our guide to the best energy suppliers.
Scottish Power (2023) review: Verdict
Scottish Power is an important player in renewable electricity generation and green hydrogen production and supplies 100% renewable electricity to homes on its green tariffs. Its performance across the majority of our award categories was decent but it was still a way behind the top supplier Octopus Energy for customer satisfaction.
Methodology
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,006 adults, of which 119 use Scottish Power for either gas or electricity. Fieldwork was undertaken between 13th – 16th October 2023. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+). *Figures used, based on calculations by Expert Reviews.