Three gas firms fined £8m by Ofgem for being too slow to attend leaks
The energy watchdog for Great Britain has fined three companies £8m for failing to respond to some gas leak emergencies quickly enough, potentially putting the public at 'serious risk'.
Ofgem said the three firms – Cadent Gas, Scotland Gas Networks (SGN Scotland) and Southern Gas Networks (SGN Southern) – had agreed to pay the fine after missing callout targets that require them to attend suspected gas leaks within one to two hours in 97% of cases.
An investigation by the regulator found that all three had fallen short of that target between 2022 and 2023. Ofgem said the fines would be paid into the regulator's voluntary redress fund 'in acknowledgment of the potentially serious risk to the public in failing to meet these targets'.
Ofgem's director of market oversight and enforcement, Cathryn Scott, said: 'The potential risk to households and businesses if gas leaks aren't investigated quickly is significant, so it's right that the companies involved have acknowledged the seriousness of missing these targets.'
Scott said the regulator was confident that all three companies had since improved their systems and processes to 'make sure this doesn't happen again,' and had met their targets in the two years since the breach.
'We take compliance with our rules incredibly seriously, and as demonstrated with this case, will not hesitate to take action when companies fail to meet their obligations across the board,' she added.
SGN Southern has received the largest penalty, £5.8m, after falling short of targets by up to 5.1%. Cadent will shell out £1.5m for missing targets by up to 2.1%, while SGN Scotland will pay £700,000, for a 0.4% shortfall.
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The money from the redress scheme will be used to fund projects supporting energy customers, particularly those deemed to be vulnerable by the energy regulator.
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