A MAJOR energy supplier has been ordered by the regulator to pay compensation to half a million customers.
E.ON Next has been directed to pay £5million in redress to customers for poor customer services, Ofgem has announced.
Ofgem said a review of customer service standards and complaints-handling across the sector uncovered “severe weaknesses” at E.ON Next, with customers facing long call waiting times and a high level of unanswered calls.
More than 500,000 customers were potentially affected, according to Ofgem.
The regulator said E.ON Next will pay £4million to those customers most directly affected, working out at £8 each.
The supplier will also pay a further £1million to Ofgem’s voluntary redress fund, which supports vulnerable energy consumers and other innovation and carbon emission-reducing investments.
Cathryn Scott, director for enforcement and emerging issues at Ofgem, said the penalty for E.ON Next “shows Ofgem’s determination to stand up for the rights of consumers and drive up standards.”
“The very least that a customer should expect of their supplier is for them to pick up the phone to them in a timely way.
“The levels of service that we discovered at E.ON Next during the period of review were unacceptable.
An E.ON Next spokesperson said: “We had invested in improving our services even before Ofgem began its review, prioritising our most vulnerable customers with specialist teams and recruiting hundreds more energy specialists to be there for customers when they need us.
“We won’t shy away from the fact that we weren’t at our best but we’re heartened Ofgem recognises our efforts and our success in improving service levels even before this review began.”
