E.ON to pay £1.7m out to customers it overcharged
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Energy supplier E.ON has been forced to hand over £1.7m to customers after it was caught overcharging.
The company hit around 94,000 UK customers with either higher exit fees than necessary or overcharged them following price rises.
The compensation payment agreed with the energy regulator Ofgem includes a £300,000 payment to a consumer fund which E.ON runs in partnership with the charity Age UK.
Sarah Harrison, the regulator's enforcement chief, 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."
The German-owned company came in for criticism this summer after it announced a 24 per cent rise in half-year UK profits.
It made £245m between January and June, up from £198m over the same period in 2011.
Meanwhile home energy bills have been soaring, although E.ON agreed to fix its standard tariff until the end of the year.
It has kept to that, although is expected to announce a price hike of around 10 per cent early next month.
The company blamed the overcharging on a computer glitch after it raised prices for domestic customers in 2011.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments