Bill Hero currently compares energy prices and plans, not retailers themselves. We deliberately chose to focus first on factual, price data comparisons.
We know that many consumers are also interested in qualitative factors like service quality, reputation, and ownership structure, and we're working on including these non-price factors in our rankings and recommendations.
The additional non-price factors on our roadmap to include in the Bill Hero service are:
Retailer ownership - Australian owned, partially Australian-owned, or foreign-owned
Call centre team location - All Australian-based, some Australian-based, or all offshore
Complaints rates - All retailers must publish data on the complaints they've received each quarter. The rate of complaints per ,000 customers is an indicator of the quality of service that the retailer is providing.
Ombudsman escalation rates - The relevant state Ombudsman organisations also publish information on the complaints that are eventually escalated to Ombudsman. This indicates that the complaint was not resolved directly with the retailer, and the escalation rate in conjunction with the complaints rate, is a good indicator of the quality of services and processes a retailer has to successfully resolve issues as they arise.
Number of customers - Some consumers prefer to buy from the larger and better-established providers, but the smaller and newer competitors often offer the best prices
Call response time - summary statistics on response time for sampled support calls to each retailer. Although subject to variation, call response time can provide some insight into customer service quality
Green rating - Various sources are rating the 'green' credentials for each retailer. Where available, we intend to make the Green rating visible and useable for Bill Hero subscribers
Are there additional factors you think would be important to help you make the best decision? Please contact us and let us know!