Energy prospects entitled to £150,000 compensation after Ofgem findings | EUROtoday

A British power firm has been pressured to pay £150,000 in compensation and redress after failing to offer ultimate payments and refund credit score balances to over 2,000 prospects.

The power regulator, Ofgem, revealed that 2,284 prepayment meter prospects had been impacted by a fault in Good Energy’s billing system between 2014 and October 2023.

This systemic error meant that prepayment prospects switching suppliers or terminating their contracts with Good Energy didn’t obtain their ultimate payments inside the mandated six-week timeframe stipulated by Ofgem.

The whole payout of £150,067, averaging £66 per buyer, encompasses £55,281 in direct compensation and refunds, with an extra £94,786 contributed to the business’s voluntary redress fund, a scheme designed to help susceptible power customers.

Those affected by the problem ought to be issued compensation and probably goodwill sums to make up for the problem. Anyone who believes they had been affected by doesn’t obtain this could get in contact with Good Money.

The challenge got here to mild following a self-reported incident of the identical error by power provider E.On Next to Ofgem final yr. Subsequent investigations led to Good Energy updating its programs to rectify the issue, in keeping with Ofgem.

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Beth Martin, director for shopper safety and competitors at Ofgem, stated: “At a time when so many households are facing financial difficulty, it’s unacceptable that Good Energy failed to provide refunds of money that was owed to customers, compensation they were due, and final bills they were entitled to.

“Driving up standards for consumers across the board is our top priority, and improving billing accuracy is a key part of this.

“We also expect suppliers to make sure they have robust systems in place to limit the risk of issues like this happening, and to proactively report problems when they arise.”

Good Energy chief govt Nigel Pocklington stated: “We were dismayed to find the billing system issue causing these prepayment customers to have not received their final statements and we deeply apologise to all those affected.

“As soon as the issue was identified we put in place a manual process to ensure it did not continue and have since made changes to make sure it does not happen again.

“We have also made every effort to provide due compensation to affected customers. This includes goodwill sums in excess of their potential credit balance plus interest, and the general standards of performance payments all customers who do not receive final statements in time.”

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Last month, the boss of Ofgem stated he wished to be much less “heavy handed” in policing power corporations, together with solely taking enforcement motion in “serious cases” of firms failing prospects.

Jonathan Brearley stated he wished to take a “proportionate, intelligent” strategy to regulating buyer points within the coming years.

He stated: “The fact is that over the last few years Ofgem has had to intervene in light of poor services and poor practice for some suppliers.

“However, I also recognise that at times, our past approach has been unwieldy, potentially heavy handed and bureaucratic.”

But he added that corporations have to “do more than the regulatory minimum” in return.

That contains by offering quicker redress funds for points like poor sensible meter set up companies or incorrect billing.