A green energy company from Gloucestershire has been voted number one in a new survey.

Stroud-based Ecotricity has the best customer service in the energy industry, according to a new ratings system launched by Citizens Advice today.

The new online tool allows people to compare energy companies' customer service at a glance, based on complaints handling, ease of contact, bill clarity, and switching.

Ecotricity founder Dale Vince said: "Firstly, it's great to be ranked number one. We put a huge amount of effort into making our customer service the best in the industry, and it's improving further as we develop our app and online services.

"But it's also great to see an organisation like Citizens Advice pull together a ratings system that's about more than just price - comparison sites and the media seem to only focus on price, but that's just part of the story.

"We think there are three things that people look out for - greenness, customer service, and price.

"The order will depend on the individual, but comparison sites should help people compare energy companies across all three of those areas.

"In our experience, a growing number of people are looking for a green outcome from their energy spending, increasingly so as our government seems to have abandoned the green agenda and turned instead to fracking and nuclear.

"And it's no coincidence that greenness and good customer service go hand in hand either; both are the result of being driven by ethics - not the bottom line."

The new Citizens Advice customer service tool uses a star rating system from one to five, with the number of stars awarded to each supplier based on a combination of different factors:

• Complaints - how well energy suppliers handle customer complaints

• Ease of switching - number of switches the supplier successfully carries out within 21 days

• Ease of contact - how highly people rate their supplier's customer service

• Bill clarity - how easy people find it to understand their bills

• Switch Guarantee - whether the supplier is signed up to the switch guarantee that commits them to switching a customer within 21 days.

The criteria were developed by Citizens Advice using research carried out with customers who were asked what they valued most from their energy supplier.

The tool will be updated quarterly with the latest information and star rating.

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