Energy firm pays £150,000 in compensation for prepayment meter billing failures

An energy firm has paid over £150,000 in compensation and redress after failing to provide final bills and refund credit balances to prepayment meter customers. An investigation into Good Energy by the regulator Ofgem found 2,284 prepayment meter customer accounts were affected between 2014 and October 2023 due to an error within its billing system.

This meant prepayment customers who transferred to another supplier or terminated their contract did not receive final bills within six weeks, as required under Ofgem’s rules. As a result of the failures and in recognition of the impact these issues may have had on prepayment meter customers, many of whom may have faced financial difficulty, Good Energy has agreed to pay a total of £150,067. The average sum paid per affected customer was £66.

This includes £55,281 in customer compensation and refunds, and a further £94,786 to the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Fund (EIVRS), which funds projects and schemes to support energy consumers, particularly the vulnerable. Of this, £64,678 was unclaimed customer compensation.

Beth Martin, director for consumer protection and competition at Ofgem, said: “At a time when so many households are facing financial difficulty, it’s unacceptable that Good Energy failed to provide refunds of money that was owed to customers, compensation they were due, and final bills they were entitled to.

“Driving up standards for consumers across the board is our top priority, and improving billing accuracy is a key part of this.

“We also expect suppliers to make sure they have robust systems in place to limit the risk of issues like this happening, and to proactively report problems when they arise.”

The issue was identified after E.ON Next self-reported the same error to Ofgem last year. A detailed investigation followed, and Good Energy has now updated its systems to rectify the error.