Thousands energy Customers who were forced to install prepament meters in their homes are ready to get compensation or their loans are written, Togem Where are you
After a review in Energy companies Forcing weak customers at prepament meters, the regulator announced that eight suppliers will be provided Compensation and support.
Scottish Power, EDF, EON, Utility Warehouse, Good Energy, Truecer, and Ecotericity have all agreed to the scheme.
Togem It is said that suppliers have committed to pay additional compensation, where it is payable, and in some cases, will write some energy loans of customers who had an involuntary payment meter between 1 January 2022, and 31 January 2023.
Suppliers will pay £ 5.6 million to 40,000 customers in compensation, which had a pre -payment meter, which was uninvotionally established during the evaluation period, using the guidelines prescribed by the OFGEM. This will mean around £ 140 for each customer.
Additionally, the supplier will write another £ 13 million loan From the customers who had a pre -payment meter were established involuntarily during the same period.
The regulator stated that this action is in addition to £ 55 million in financial assistance that has been directly provided by the suppliers before the completion of the review to the consumers directly affected, including the difficulty paying and the loan right-off, the regulator said.
Customers identified as PPM were incorrectly established or where procedures were not adequately followed between January 1, 2022 and January 31 2023, would be contacted by their suppliers, and do not need to take action.
Ovo has also confirmed that it will give customers compensation in accordance with the guidelines developed by OFGEM.
Tim Jarvis, Director General of Markets for Ophum, said: “This has been one of the most detailed reviews of suppliers practices in the history of one of the thousands of cases, looking at thousands of cases. It has been taken time, but our priority is right for those who do not treat properly, and ensure that we do not see bad practice.
“While the number of cases where a pre -paid meter was incorrectly established, PPM is relatively low compared to the total number of customers, a case is much higher.
“Our reviews found extensive issues with extensive issues that were with suppliers, which is why we have placed clear, difficult rules for the safety of customers in weak situations, and I am happy that from today the suppliers will implement our compensation structure for those customers and are committed to further support such as loan writing.
“We have made the suppliers clear their expectations of how those customers who were poorly behaved should be compensated. They have to ensure that they have to be working together, to ensure that their procedures are strong and their customers are properly supported.
“We know that PPM can be an effective tool in helping customers manage their costs and loans. However, customers should always be treated properly and kind, and we believe that the changes we have made is an important step to ensure.”
Energy UK CEO Dhara Vyas, who represents energy firms, said: “Suppliers have worked hard to cooperate with this comprehensive review and have taken further action to keep things properly in cases where a pre-payment meter (PPM) should not have been installed-or where there was insufficient support for the customers concerned.
“Suppliers are working closely with OFGEM to meet their review requirements and have signed the practice code before being able to resume PPM’s involuntary installations and fully tested the new processes.
“Anomatic establishment is a final – but necessary – required for cases where repeated efforts have been failed to address loans with other mediums with the customer. It is bad for customers to fall forward and further, and poor debt eventually increases prices that are paid by all customers.
“Since the break at installations, the customer loan record has increased by £ 4 billion, and the industry is eager to work with OFGEM on the Relief Scheme proposed to deal with this problem.”
The scam first made headlines two years ago, at the peak of the cost-living crisis, when it was discovered that the energy companies were switching to the pre-payment methods to the people.
This was done by entering the properties to install smart meters or to convert smart meters into prepament mode.
The energy regulator later suspended all forced establishments and began a review of the process.
This was made good energy to pay £ 150,000 in compensation and after failing to pay the final bill and after failing to return the credit to more than 2,000 prepament meters customers.
OFGEM stated that 2,284 customers at prepament meters were affected by an error with a good energy billing system between 2014 and October 2023.
This meant that prepament customers who switched to another supplier or ended their contract with good energy, did not get the final bill within six weeks, as required by the Watchdog.
Good energy paid £ 150,067, resulting in an average amount per customer at £ 66.
Energy Secretary Ed Milliband said: “Justice is finally being given to many families, many of them are weak, who were affected by the scam of energy suppliers, wrongly installing pre-paying meters. The government has launched a tireless campaign on the issue and is pleased to see the level of compensation from £ 420,000 to £ 18.6 million under the previous government.
“Consumers should come first, which is why we are improving the energy market to seal poor practice and when things go wrong, it becomes easier to reach proper prevention, through our comprehensive review. This increased compensation package is a good start, and we will declare further reforms in the front as we provide our plan for change.”