CER CUSTOMER CHARTER JUNE 2012

Transcription

1 CER CUSTOMER CHARTER JUNE INTRODUCTION The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) is Ireland s independent energy regulator. The CER is both an economic and safety regulator of energy, responsible for: Economic regulation of Ireland's electricity and gas sectors, with our primary duty to protect the Irish energy customer; and, Safety regulation of Ireland s petroleum and natural gas undertakings, and gas installers (natural gas as well as LPG) and electrical contractors, where our focus is on protecting life and property. For details of the CER and its activities, please see the CER s website at In addition, the CER s dedicated Energy Customers Team website, which deals with issues that customers may have with their energy supplier or network operator, is available at 2. CUSTOMER CHARTER Values The CER is committed to carrying out all its functions in a fair, impartial, balanced and transparent manner. We will provide a professional and efficient service to all of our stakeholders and act with integrity at all times. We are committed to providing a high quality, user-friendly and easily accessible service to our customers in each of our areas of responsibility. Commitments In particular, this CER Customer Charter sets out, in section 3 (see next section), the standards of service that you are entitled to receive from the CER in the following 1

2 areas of our work: Personal callers Written correspondence CER website Telephone callers Complaints regarding the CER HR and personal information FOI requests In addition, all customer queries and issues that customers have with their supplier or network operator are handled by our dedicated Energy Customers Team. For details of this service and the standards involved, please see our Energy Customers Team Customer Charter published at 3. CER STANDARDS OF SERVICE Personal Callers Visitors to the CER s offices will be made to feel welcome and will be treated with courtesy and respect. We aim to deal with their business efficiently and promptly. All visitors have the right to privacy regarding their business if required. In the event that an enquiry is not relevant to the CER, every effort will be made to direct the caller to a relevant body that can assist them. Written Correspondence The CER s postal address and standard address format is included at the end of this Customer Charter. The CER commits to the following: We will acknowledge all written correspondence (including s, faxes and postal correspondence) within 3 working days of our receipt; We will comprehensively reply to correspondence within 10 working days if at all possible. If there is going to be a delay beyond this 10 working days, we will send an interim reply explaining the position and providing an estimate of the response timeline. If satisfactory to the customer, we may contact you by telephone. Please 2

3 note that a separate process/timeline applies to a situation where a connection offer-related dispute with the network operator has been referred to the CER, as there is a particular process to follow in this area which is set down in legislation; If a CER staff member plans to be unavailable for more than 1 working day (for example due to annual leave), he/she will set-up an automatic out of office e- mail reply facility. This facility will provide information on when the staff member expects to be in a position to respond to the , and will include information on who to contact in the intervening period if the query is urgent; We will ensure that all correspondence from the CER (including s and faxes) carries a contact name/team, telephone number, fax number and address; We will use courteous, clear and simple language in our correspondence and only use technical terms when necessary; and, We will ensure that any correspondence received in Irish is answered in Irish (unless the response is an automatic out of office as above). The CER operates a general query service for industry stakeholders who have generic information enquiries regarding the functions of the CER, at info@cer.ie. Customer-related queries should be directed separately to the Energy Customers Team (energycustomers@cer.ie). CER Website The CER publishes a large number of industry-related information notes, newsletters, reports, policy consultations and decision papers at We also have a customer-related website at which is covered by the separate Energy Customers Team Customer Charter. In relation to the website, the CER will: Endeavour to keep our website up-to-date, and easy-to-navigate; Produce comprehensive explanatory material/guidelines as appropriate to accompany key decisions or reports; and, Publish a CER newsletter at least twice a year, using simple and clear language, providing an overview of key areas of CER work. The CER maintains a number of mailing lists for its website publications, through which subscribers can receive alerts of our website publications. 3

4 The CER will: Keep our mailing lists up-to-date, ensuring that customers are added or removed from our mailing lists as they request; and, Ensure that all correspondence sent to our mailing lists is clear, concise and appropriate to that particular mailing list. We welcome feedback from our customers to our website, papers published and on the quality of the policy consultation service provided. Should you have any comments these can be forwarded to the relevant person listed in the consultation paper or to Telephone Callers The CER s reception telephone number is (0) Our telephone line will be open between the hours of 9am and 1pm, and 2pm and 5:30pm, each working day from Monday to Friday. In addition, our dedicated Energy Customers Team can also be contacted at for customer queries or issues that customers may have with their supplier or network operator please see the Energy Customers Team s dedicated website and their Customer Charter for details at The CER commits to the following: We will answer all telephone calls personally, rather than using any electronic routing devices; We will be courteous and identify ourselves over the phone; We will be as helpful and informative as we can with telephone callers; We will provide our address where this is likely to be useful to the caller; We will answer all telephone calls promptly when available. We will only divert calls to voic when the relevant staff member is engaged on another call or is absent and there is no other suitable person available to deal with the call; If a staff member plans to be unavailable to answer a call, he/she will have a voic facility set-up which will allow a caller to leave a message. If available, the staff member will respond to a voic message (by phone or in writing) within 1 working day; and, If a CER staff member plans to be unavailable for more than 1 working day (for example due to annual leave), he/she will provide details of this on his/her 4

5 voic facility. The voic will include information on when the staff member expects to be in a position to answer the voic , as well as who to contact in the intervening period if the query is urgent. Complaints Regarding the CER If you are unhappy with the quality of customer service that you have received from the CER, you have the right to complain. Any complaints in relation to the CER s quality of service should be sent to info@cer.ie. Complaints to the CER will be responded to promptly and in a courteous manner, in accordance with the correspondence timelines referred to above. All complaints will be dealt with fairly and impartially. HR and Personal Information The CER complies with relevant Data Protection legislation. We only hold personal information (for example CVs and job applications) for 1 year after the relevant competition is closed, unless otherwise requested by an individual. Freedom of Information (FOI) The CER complies with the Freedom of Information Act 1997, as amended. In any event we endeavour to provide as much information as feasible on our activities and decisions on our website. Should you wish to request information under the Freedom of Information Act, you should contact the CER s Freedom of Information Officer stating clearly that you are requesting information under the Act s can be sent to info@cer.ie. 4. EVALUATION OF SERVICE COMMITMENTS The CER aims to continually improve our Customer Service. We welcome comments from our customers with regard to the quality of our service. If we identify areas of our service which need to be improved, we will take the necessary steps to ensure that improvement takes place. Any comments can be sent to info@cer.ie. Contacting the CER The general CER contact details are as follows. 5

6 CER address: CER contact numbers: The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) The Exchange Belgard Square North Tallaght Dublin 24 Telephone: (0) Fax: (0) Our website: Our addresses: General Information Queries: Staff Template: In addition, all customer queries complaints and issues that customers have with their supplier or network operator should be sent to the CER s Energy Customers Team, at: The Energy Customers Team P.O. Box Tallaght Dublin 24 Telephone Energycustomers@cer.ie ******************* 6