Investigation over energy mis-selling to be carried out

It has been revealed recently that four of the big six energy giants in the UK are at the centre of an investigation over the mis-selling of energy to UK consumers. The investigation is to be carried out by the UK energy regulator Ofgem, which said that it had received complaints and reports from various sources suggesting that the four energy companies may have breached regulations with regards to energy sales.

The four energy giants that are facing questioning from the regulator as part of the investigation are Npower, Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy, and EDF Energy. The investigation centres around sales made by the firms on both a face to face basis and over the telephone. It comes following new regulations that were brought in at the start of this year with regards to the sale of energy  contracts to consumers.

According to Ofgem more than 50 percent of energy customers that switched in 2008 did so after being contacted by an energy sales person, but in many cases the customers ended up on a more expensive tariff because they had been misled over their energy costs or had not been able to effectively compare costs against their existing tariffs.

The four energy giants have said that they will fully cooperate with Ofgem in the investigation, which will centre around whether they have breached the new regulations that were brought in at the start of this year. The new regulations required energy firms to ensure that estimates were given before any face to face contract were concluded and where possible comparisons were given to the consumer with regards to pricing compared to their existing provider.

Andrew Wright, of Ofgem, said: “We expect all suppliers to comply with these tougher obligations, but if our investigations find otherwise, we will take strong action.”

Tags: energy customers, regulator, United Kingdom, energy companies, EDF Energy, energy regulator, Scottish Power

Energy firm breaches new rules

It has been revealed that an energy firm has recently been found guilty of breaching new regulations with regards to consumer complaints. According to a recent report EDF Energy failed to record customer complaints properly in line with regulations. The breach is said to have occurred between October 2008 and March of last year.

The report claims that the problem has now been rectified and the energy supplier has had to pay £200,000 to charities that help consumers. As a result of the payment that the energy supplier has made the UK’s energy regulator, Ofgem, has decided against imposing a separate fine against the energy firm.

The regulations that the company was found to have breached were introduced in 2008, and this is said to have been the first investigation since the rules were brought in. The energy firm is said to have taken immediate action to put the matter right. The rules had been brought it try and improve customer service levels from energy firms, which typically receive a huge number of complaints relating to customer service and billings.

The regulations aimed to ensure that consumer could contact the energy firm and have to explain the situation just once, and the complaint would be properly recorded so that the matter could be resolved or continue to be dealt with effectively. This also made it easier to monitor how long it took for the complaint to be resolved, helping to ensure that it was sorted out within the specified timescale.

EDF Energy said: “When Ofgem first identified in January 2009 that the number of complaints we had recorded was lower than expected, we immediately instigated a review and developed a robust action plan to resolve the matter. The actions we took led to an almost immediate and sustained improvement, such that our recorded complaints are now fully consistent with our expectations and with other suppliers.”       

Tags: EDF Energy, energy firms, line, customer, Complaint, Electric power, energy, energy supplier