If you’ve been researching our ADR process, you’ve likely come across the phrase ‘Participating Member’ dozens of times… And been left wondering:
What is a Participating Member, and why is it important?
Well, not to give you too many spoilers, but the concept of a Participating Member is actually essential to how UtilitiesADR works – and to figuring out whether your complaint is eligible for our scheme.
Don’t worry… It’s not as complicated as it sounds. Let’s get into it!
By the way, if you have a non-regulated Utility Complaint…
UtilitiesADR offers a FREE, independent route to a resolution – approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute to settle non-regulated utility disputes across the UK, whether you’re an individual consumer or a business with over 10 employees.
What does ‘Participating Member’ mean?
In short, at UtilitiesADR, a Participating Member is a utility provider that has agreed to engage with our scheme and follow our Scheme Rules…
Allowing you to escalate your complaints about them with us, for free!
The concept of a Participating Member is particularly important for an ADR scheme like UtilitiesADR, as we specialise in non-regulated utility complaints. Utility providers that provide non-regulated services are not necessarily legally required to participate in any Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme with regards to those services.
This means that our Participating Member utility providers have voluntarily chosen to become part of our scheme, recognising the benefits of amicable, hassle-free dispute resolution for your non-regulated utility complaints – out of court.
That’s also why we call them ‘Participating’ Members… They’ve chosen to partake in our process and be legally bound by our decisions!
Not sure what a non-regulated complaint is? Please see our dedicated article on the topic:
> Regulated VS Non-Regulated Utility Complaints: What’s the Difference?
Why is the concept of a Participating Member important for consumers?
So, now you know what we mean when we say a utility provider is a Participating Member of UtilitiesADR… But why should it matter to you, as a consumer?
Something important to note about UtilitiesADR is that we can normally only accept complaints about utility providers that are Participating Members of our scheme – as these providers are the ones who have agreed to be bound by our decisions.
But don’t worry! With over 180 utility providers partaking in our scheme, we’ve likely got you covered.
Who are the Participating Members of UtilitiesADR?
As aforementioned, UtilitiesADR currently has over 180 Participating Members, spanning a diverse array of companies and organisations, such as:
> British Gas
> E.on
> Centrica
… And more!
As much as we’d love to list them all for you here… That would take all day.
For a full comprehensive list, please see our handy Participating Member webpage, where you can search for the name of the utility provider you’re complaining about to see if they’re part of our scheme:
> Participating Members of UtilitiesADR
What if my provider isn’t a Participating Member of UtilitiesADR?
If you cannot find your provider on our published Participating Members list – don’t panic! That does not immediately mean you’ve hit a dead end.
If you can’t find the provider you’re complaining about on our list, you can still submit your complaint to us and have us check our records, or reach out to our Customer Support Team to verify whether or not we may still be able to process your complaint beforehand!
If your complaint is ineligible for UtilitiesADR, we’ll simply point you in the right direction.
We’ll never penalise you for trying to use our services!
How do I get started?
Once you’ve double-checked whether or not your utility provider is a Participating Member of UtilitiesADR, you can lodge your complaint with us for FREE in whichever way suits you – through our online portal, by post, or by phone:
> Start your complaint with UtilitiesADR
> What to do before you come to us
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