E.On fined £7.75m for overcharging customers
07/04/2015
One of the UKs largest energy suppliers, E.On, has accepted a penalty of £7.75 million from the energy regulator, Ofgem, for overcharging its customers.
The company announced that it has accepted the fine, which was imposed after Ofgem discovered E.ON was incorrectly charging exit fees and overcharging customers following price rises in 2013 and 2014. Around 48,000 customers where affected, and E.On is currently trying to refund them all.
They have already paid back £400,000 to customers who may have been affected and are tracking down the rest to try and refund them by the end of April. In most cases, the customer was wrongly charged less than £10, according to E.On.
E.On apologised to its customers, as it had made a similar mistake in November 2012, which it was fined £1.7 million for. It was also fined £12m in May 2014 by the regulator for mis-selling - one of the largest fines imposed by Ofgem.
The fine will be paid to Citizens Advice and will go towards helping vulnerable customers.
Sarah Harrison, senior partner in charge of enforcement at Ofgem, said:
"It is vital that suppliers play by the rules so customers are encouraged to engage in the market.
"E.ON's errors meant customers who took the chance to switch were wrongly charged. It is important that E.ON has repaid potentially affected customers and cooperated with the investigation. However it's absolutely unacceptable that E.ON failed to provide these vital customer protections yet again and this persistent failure is the reason for the high penalty."
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