Energy bills remain our biggest gripe

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A fifth of British households complain to their energy company every year - mainly about billing, according to a report.

Citizens Advice has estimated that it costs suppliers £125 million a year to handle customer complaints about bills.

The charity's report, The Lost Decade, analysed measures taken to improve the handling of billing complaints 10 years after the former Energywatch group lodged a super-complaint about domestic gas and electricity billing.

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It found progress on billing performance was "patchy", and said poor processes were still prevalent, leading to widespread distrust among consumers.

The charity said it helped with more than 100,000 energy-related issues in the last year.

Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: "Bad billing systems have plagued energy customers for years.

"Billing people on time, and for the right sums of money, is essential if the market is to work. It is both astonishing and wholly unacceptable that suppliers have been getting it so wrong for so long.

"The introduction of smart meters can significantly improve consumers' experience. The responsibility is now on suppliers to get it right and for Ofgem to bring forward new protections if things go wrong."

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The report calls on Ofgem to review why the pressure of competition and regulatory requirements has failed to bring down billing problems, and work with customers to understand what information they need and remove unnecessary data.

It also wants the regulator to deliver better protection for consumers through new regulations limiting back-billing for smart meter customers to three months.