SSE has pledged to give consumers £20 off their bill if the energy supplier fails to meet a new set of customer service commitments.

The ‘Customer Service Guarantee’ is part of the company’s wider aim to help consumers save money, make life easier for them and help them when they “need it most”. It has promised to always call customers back when it say it will, never transfer calls more than once unless the customer agrees and offer to find ways to save customers’ money on every call.

Alistair Phillips-Davies, Deputy Chief Executive of SSE said: “This is about more than just £20. It’s about setting ourselves ever higher standards and making ourselves fully accountable for meeting them, not just talking about them.

“We would be first to admit that we have not always lived up to customers’ expectations in the past but we pride ourselves on being different to other energy suppliers. We have been at the forefront of progress that has already been made in the industry, moving first to simplify our tariffs, end doorstep sales and help improve competition from smaller suppliers – and where we have led, others have followed… No-one can control how much energy is going to cost in the future but we can control how we conduct ourselves and deal with our customers.”

The announcement comes just days after rival energy supplier npower vowed to become number one in the industry for customer satisfaction by 2015 after it was voted the bottom of a league table ranking the UK’s energy suppliers.