SWINDON based energy provider received more complaints than any of its rivals last year.

According to the Citizens Advice Bureau, customers have seen “their finances thrown into chaos” by repeated failures, including bills arriving late, payments being stopped and new accounts not being set up.

The high number meant that Npower had 306 complaints for every 100,000 cuustomers. This is higher than all of its rivals and ten times more than SSE, who received the lowest.

The problem is also worsening for the company with the number of complaints in 2013 twice that of the previous year.

Citizens Advice Chief Executive Gillian Guy said: “Things are getting worse not better for Npower customers. 

“It is unacceptable that Npower has not yet sorted out the serious failings in its billing systems and customer service which are causing so many complaints and serious problems for its customers.

“Time and time again energy suppliers are letting customers down.  People will not feel able to trust energy suppliers again if firms cannot get their house in order and deliver decent customer service.”

Roger Hattam, the Director Domestic Retail Business at Npower, said: “We wrote to all our customers during this period last year apologising for the impact on them of issues we have had with the implementation of our new billing system.

“We are making good progress in dealing with the root causes of this, but remain totally committed to resolving any problems this has created for our customers.”