South Holland District Council has received over 400 calls a day more than normal due to the £150 rebate scheme.
It was revealed after Amie Househam, the head of customer contact for PSPS, the company set up for customer interaction, came before the authority’s Performance Monitoring Panel who asked why it hadn’t been meeting targets.
Only 77.41 per cent of general calls were answered compared to 91 per cent target.
Benefits and revenues calls answered was just 65.1 per cent which was blamed partly on ‘a COVID outbreak in the team’ according to the performance report
The average wait time was 160 seconds for general calls and 308 seconds for benefits enquiries.
The comparative target times are 75 and 264 seconds.
Ms Househam said: “The £150 energy rebate was an increased demand we were not expecting. We’ve had over 400 calls a day.
“We are moving in a much more stable position and we’re fairly confidence we will be able to sustain that performance.
“It doesn’t take away that we want to provide a better product for the customer.”
Coun Bryan Alcock: “I’m encouraged to see it’s heading in the right direction. I’m sure a lot of hard work is going into achieving that.
“We must acknowledge the achievements but we don’t want to slip back to a situation that’s been in place some time.”
