E.ON to pay compensation after regulator discovers firm over-charged its custumers

ENERGY giant E-on has been ordered to repay £1.4m to around 94,000 customers who had been overcharged following price rises.

The company has also agreed to pay £300,000 as a goodwill gesture to a consumer fund which will be run in conjunction with Age UK.

Ofgem says the company failed to give its customers 30 days notice of a price rise and charged interest on the amount they were charged.

Sarah Harrison, Ofgem’s Senior Partner in charge of enforcement, said: “Ofgem has put in place protections for consumers so they can get a fair warning if their supplier puts up prices and time to shop around for a better deal. E.ON has accepted it failed to meet these protections. Today’s announcement that E.ON will compensate customers is a positive step by the company to put right their mistakes and is welcome.”

However Labour’s John Robertson MP said: “Ofgem is simply too slow to react. For once, one of the Big Six acted responsibly, but we cannot rely on this every time. Ofgem employs hundreds of people and one of them should be monitoring this type of thing so that customers can take advantage of so-called competition in the energy market.”

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said:“It is positive that EOn alerted the regulator which shows they are taking the issue seriously and I welcome the fact the agreement compensates the affected customers. We will continue to push for action to ensure that energy companies compensate consumers who suffer when things go wrong.”