Yorkshire Energy reviews: Customers thoughts

Yorkshire Energy has ceased trading. Its 74,000 customers were transferred to Scottish Poweron 6 December 2020. Read our guide for more information on what happens next. Affected customers should contact Scottish Power for more information.

As one of the UK’s smallest energy suppliers, Yorkshire Energy wasn’t focused on becoming the biggest, but rather the best! We took a look at Yorkshire Energy reviews to find out what customers thought about the company and it if appeared to be living up to the mission in consumers’ eyes..

Information in this guide is no longer being updated since the closure of Yorkshire Energy. All information presented here is for reference purposes only and was correct at the time of original posting. For more information please contact the new supplier Scottish Power directly or visit Selectra’s guide to Scottish Power .

With an average rating of 3.9 on Trustpilot, 3.3 on Google, and 3.0 on Facebook at the time of original posting, it seems Yorkshire Energy customers were generally pleased with the energy provider’s service. Here we will review what customers actually had to say about the supplier.

We have broken the reviews down into different areas, from customer service and value for money, to billing and meter readings, to make it easier to follow and so that you can decide for yourself.

It is important to take into consideration that customers are generally more likely to leave a review when they are upset, rather than when they are satisfied.

Customer Service Reviews

Customer service is generally one of the most important factors people take into account when looking for an energy provider. So how does Yorkshire Energy stack up when it comes to its customer service?

While Yorkshire Energy had generally good reviews in that paste, reviews regarding customer service seemed to take a turn for the worse in early 2020, with some reviews even saying customer service was “nonexistent.” The new decade has seen the number of complaints regarding customer service, specifically the inability to be able to speak to a representative over the phone, significantly increase.

Many customers reported being on hold for almost half an hour and then finally reaching the front of the queue, just to have the call dropped or sent to a voicemail service. Customers also complained about Yorkshire Energy not responding to voicemails and emails.

“I have been with YE for a year now. They have been great up until the last couple of weeks. Before then ringing them was easy, you got answered almost immediately but now its impossible to get through. 24 in the queue down to 16 then asked to leave a message and cut off.”

So why is this happening all of a sudden? The company said it had experienced a large period of customer growth, and it didn’t yet have the adequate staff size to manage this. This is a common obstacle that newer and smaller energy companies face as they begin to gain popularity for their competitive prices.

Yorkshire Energy said it was in the process of hiring and training more customer service representatives to take on the increasing number of calls and the backlog of emails before the company ceased trading.

It does appear from customer reviews that the call center agents were courteous and knowledgeable. Before the company experienced such growth, reviews show that customers found the customer service to be first-rate.

“Took under a minute for them to pick up and I spoke to a real human!! The agent who picked up knew everything and was polite and went the extra mile. I called back later the same day and got through in seconds. The person who I spoke to earlier answered and remembered me by name and delivered the same high standard of customer service.”

Value for Money Reviews

Much like with customer service, Yorkshire Energy’s reviews regarding value also seem to grow increasingly negative in 2020. This does not necessarily mean more expensive energy prices. Customers actually reported the new Yorkshire Energy tariffs were cheaper than the previous ones. In fact, value relates to if the customers believe their money has been well spent.

Since launching in 2018, and up through the end of 2019, Yorkshire Energy’s customers seemed generally satisfied in relation to the value they received from the company. People were getting renewable energy at a great price, and they also had access to reliable customer service.

“Green energy at a great rate. This is what I need for my company. I care about sustainability and service, and so do my customers! Yorkshire Energy seem to feel the same way!! I would be happy to pay a little more to save the world, but in this case I haven't even had to fork out. So far so good. Loved talking to Mark, my account manager. Here's to the future!”

Unfortunately, with the decline in customer’s perception of value of Yorkshire Energy in early 2020, customers started to question if the cheaper energy rates were actually worth it.

“In the end I think I will come back to my previous supplier as I did receive better customer service. For the sake of saving a few quid I will apologize my previous supplier and rejoin. After all you get what you pay for…”

Billing and Meter Reading Reviews

As with the reviews concerning customer service and value for money, customers previously reported being generally pleased with how they submitted meter readings and received bills — until 2020.

“Each month I received an email prompting me to submit meter readings. The process was simple, & an accurate bill was received almost immediately.”

According to customer reviews found online, Yorkshire Energy customers always appreciated how the provider reminded them to submit their monthly meter readings. With the original online portal, customers not only praised the supplier for how easy it was to submit the readings, but also for how fast Yorkshire Energy was then able to produce an accurate energy bill.

In late 2019, Yorkshire Energy redesigned its online portal with the intention of making it easier for customers to manage and understand their bills and energy usage. Unfortunately, it appears there are some issues that still needed to be sorted out.

Following the introduction of the new portal, many customers reported they were no longer able to submit meter readings online. Some weren’t even able to get past the Yorkshire Energy login page. This resulted in estimated billing and even more frustrated customers because they were then unable to get through to a customer service representative to give the readings and sort out their billing.

“Up until late 2019 YE was great, answered the phone really quickly. Now its impossible to get through. Submitted meter readings a week ago; normally bill arrrives by email within an hour but its now 7 days and I still have not had my january bill. I've got 20 days to decide whether to change supplier or not.”

Yorkshire Energy was working to fix these issues with the new system before they went bust. The energy company also planned to start rolling out Yorkshire Energy smart meters in mid-2020. With smart meters, customers would no longer have to submit meter readings because the smart meter would submit this automatically to the provider.

Complaint Handling

You will probably have to make a complaint to your electricity and gas provider at some point in your life, and you’re going to want it handled quickly and professionally. Let’s have a look at Yorkshire Energy’s complaint data and see how quickly the supplier is actually able to resolve customer complaints.

Information in this guide is no longer being updated since the closure of Yorkshire Energy. All information presented here is for reference purposes only and was correct at the time of original posting. For more information please contact the new supplier Scottish Power directly or visit Selectra’s guide to Scottish Power .

Source: Yorkshire Energy Complaints Report -- Last Updated Sept 2019.

Compared to other gas and electric companies, especially those among the major provoders, Yorkshire Energy appeared to be quite efficient at resolving complaints.

What is Yorkshire Energy’s procedure for handling complaints?

On its website, Yorkshire Energy laid out the complaints process. If you had a complaint, you were to call the customer service team on or send an email. Representatives were available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Yorkshire Energy said it would try to solve the issue the first time the customer made contact to complain.

Now, customers should contact Scottish Power regarding their complaints: Phone: on 0800 074 1985 (Monday to Friday 8am-10pm; Saturday 8.30am-6pm).

If you’re not satisfied with how the complaint has been handled, you can escalate the complaint to a senior member at Scottish Power. Someone will aim to contact you within a few days to first discuss the complaint and then, if necessary, conduct an internal review.

If you are still unsatisfied, you can request a “deadlock letter,” which is written confirmation that Scottish Power was unable to resolve the complaint. You can then refer the complaint to the Energy Ombudsman. If Scottish Power does not agree to issue you a deadlock letter, you can still refer the complaint to the Energy Ombudsman if it hasn’t been resolved within eight weeks.