Three energy suppliers have made compensation payments and additional redress totalling over £8 milllion after they missed or unduly delayed Guaranteed Standards of Performance compensation payments due to consumers worth £6,305,925. Over 100,000 customers were affected by these issues at E.On Next, Good Energy and Octopus Energy.
Ofgem said it has worked with the suppliers to ensure all affected consumers received the payments to which they were entitled, as well as additional compensation of £1.7million to customers or the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme (EIVRS).
The GSOP regulations require suppliers to meet certain standards of performance for their customers, such as providing them a final bill within six weeks if they choose to move to a new supplier. If a supplier fails to meet this standard, then they must make a compensation payment of £30. If the supplier fails to compensate the customer in a timely manner (within the first 10 working days after the six week period), then the customer is due an additional payment of £30.
The suppliers involved did not issue a final bill to affected customers within six weeks and they did not compensate these customers for this failure within a timely manner. Ofgem said the problems occurred because the suppliers’ billing processes and systems were not set up to deliver the Guaranteed Standard of Performance payments in line with the timeframes set out in the Regulations.
Where it has not been possible to process redress in specific cases, the suppliers involved agreed to make payments to the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme (EIVRS). E.On Next has also paid £1,330,910 to the EIVRS in recognition of system failings and the inconvenience to customers receiving late GSOP compensation, in relation to delayed final bills. The EIVRS is administered by the Energy Saving Trust.