Watchdog orders energy supplier to pay back £1.8m to customers

WARWICKSHIRE-based energy company, Co-operative Energy has agreed to pay £1.8m back to its customers over its mishandling of complaints, calls handling and billing processes.

The ruling was laid down by energy watchdog Ofgem, which said the company had let customers down by its actions.

£1.6m has already been paid back with the remainder due to be settled shortly for those customers who have not yet been compensated.

Any money the Co-op is unable to return to customers will go to the charity StepChange, which has been set up to help energy consumers who are in financial difficulties.

Ofgem started talks with Co-operative Energy following a steep increase in customer complaints  which were reported to both Ofgem and to Citizen’s Advice.

The watchdog said these were caused by customers being unable to log into their accounts online, leaving them unable to submit meter readings or check their bill. Bills were delayed and direct debit updates stopped. New customers also experienced delay transferring to the supplier. It also took too long to resolve a significant number of customer complaints.

The energy company said the issues were the result of the introduction of a new IT system in March 2015.  

Since then, Ofgem said the firm had worked in tandem with it to restore customer service levels and provide compensation to those customers directly affected by the issues. It also voluntarily withdrew from marketing activities to help focus on improving its services to its existing customers.

Co-operative Energy has given assurances that adequate processes and systems are now in place to ensure it meets its obligations and that it will provide the level of service that its customers should expect to receive.

Martin Crouch, Ofgem senior partner said: “While customers experienced unacceptable levels of service, Co-operative Energy has done the right thing by taking responsibility for the situation and paying out compensation to those people affected.

“If trust is to be restored in the energy market suppliers must make amends to their customers when things go wrong. We want all suppliers to constantly ensure customers are treated fairly.”

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close