UK energy suppliers paid out £20m for billing mistakes in five years

The Guardian

15-02-2025

Britain's big energy providers have paid more than £20m in compensation to customers for billing mistakes over the past five years, analysis by Guardian Money has found, with British Gas paying out more than a fifth of the total.
We analysed cases handled by the Energy Ombudsman, the service which steps in if a customer and energy company are unable to resolve a complaint within eight weeks of it being made.
Published data shows that across the sector there was a 141% increase in billing complaints over the last five years, steadying after a 2023 peak.
We found billing made up 54% of all complaints, with customer service and smart meters being other common issues. Billing complaints peaked in 2023 at 67,295, but are still higher than before the Covid pandemic.
Formal billing complaints decided against Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, have increased sixfold since 2019.
That year, the ombudsman found against it in relation to 2,396 complaints about billing, while between October 2023 and September 2024, the last 12 months for which there is available data, the number rose to 17,965.
British Gas is the UK's largest energy provider, with more than 7.5 million residential customers. But even when the number of accounts are considered, it still ranked highest among the major providers, with a complaint rate of 53.7 for every 100,000 customers in the last three months' data.
Compensation for billing complaints over the five years rose from about £2.4m in 2019 to £7.1m.
Over the whole period, a total of £20.4m was paid out by the biggest energy companies and the largest proportion, £4.15m of the total, was paid out by Centrica.
In the latest period for which data was available, it paid out about £2.22m in compensation over billing disputes. Over the same period, Ovo paid out £1.28m and EDF £426,000.
The millions of pounds being paid out are 'time and trouble' awards – compensation for the inconvenience and stress caused to customers, not the sums wrongly billed in the first place.
The fuel poverty charity National Energy Action says that the complaints may not show the full scale of the problem.
Its director of policy, Peter Smith, says: 'Sadly, we have witnessed the impact when an inaccurate, or shock bill, pushes a vulnerable consumer to breaking point. Beyond the financial impact, the stress and anxiety are often unbearable and affect people's daily lives.
'Often these types of consumers won't be aware of routes to challenge misbilling, or seek compensation, so this increase could just be the tip of the iceberg.'
British Gas says the sector as a whole has recorded an increase in complaints since 2019, and that its complaint rates have fallen to be broadly in line with other suppliers after it invested in its customer service.
The Energy Ombudsman says: 'The sector has faced a series of challenges since 2020, including Covid-19, specific supplier failures, and then huge increases in the cost of gas and electricity.
'Each of these has brought new problems for both consumers and suppliers, and makes it harder for both sides to come to a resolution when disputes arise.
'It's important to note that disputes have started to come down from their peak in 2023, despite remaining higher than previous years.
'This trend, as well as the continuing challenges in the sector, demonstrate the need for suppliers to continue to work to resolve issues directly with consumers.'
Separate data from Citizens Advice shows a 472% increase in complaints made against dual-fuel energy companies between 2013 and 2023, though it notes that this does not reflect their outcome.Alex Belsham-Harris, the head of energy policy at Citizens Advice, says: 'Our advisers often hear from people who are barely making ends meet, and an inaccurate bill not only risks plunging them into debt, but can take huge effort and stress to resolve.
'Energy consumers simply can't afford to pick up the tab when something goes wrong. Ofgem must limit back-billing to curb the amount customers can be charged, and it should raise service standards so people struggling with billing issues get the help they need.'
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In 2024, Citizens Advice recorded 59,773 cases about billing issues, such as unclear bills, inaccurate bills or shock catch-up bills. This is an increase from 47,373 in 2023, and 24,407 in 2020.
Smith adds: 'We also know that installing a smart meter, or taking regular meter readings, both greatly reduce your chance of being inaccurately billed, and helps you to challenge it in the case you are.
'It's one of the key reasons we support the ongoing rollout of smart meters and want the national programme to be a success.'
Fran Wescombe knows all too well about problems with energy billing, having seen several things going wrong since she moved into a flat with her partner in Watford, Hertfordshire, in December 2023. The previous tenants were with British Gas, so Wescombe got in contact with the energy provider and set herself up as the bill payer. The flat was all electric and she was told the bills would be roughly £105 a month. She would pay in full by phone each month after getting the bill in the post.
Bills cost between £100 and £160 a month, but the June bill seemed low at £93.88. She got in touch and was told she would be sent a key so she could read the meter. She says the key did not arrive.
At the end of August she was hit with a £503 bill. It said someone had been to read the meter. 'They were all estimated bills, and they now wanted to charge us accordingly,' Wescombe says.
British Gas confirmed on the phone that someone had been out, though neither she nor her landlord had authorised it. 'He [the call handler] said that he was going to instruct a new engineer to come out to reread the meter, and that someone would call me back the next day by 3pm to set up when would be a convenient time for this reading to take place.'
During this call, she arranged to set up a direct debit to help manage the backlog.
However, in November, Wescombe got another bill for just over £500 and realised the direct debits had not been taken, so she was falling further into arrears.
She called British Gas again, which confirmed the direct debit had not been taken. The company says 'it was set up but not activated at the time, and it's unclear as to why this was'.
She issued a formal complaint, and got a letter instructing her to 'sit tight' as it was being looked into. Because she had not been paying anything, her outstanding bill had increased to £1,116, which she asked to pay in instalments. However, the payment was taken in full on 9 January.
Wescombe contacted her bank to cancel the payment and told us she had not heard back from British Gas about her complaint.
A British Gas spokesperson says: 'We're sorry for the customer service Ms Wescombe experienced. The outstanding balance built up due to estimated meter readings on the account for some time.'
They added: 'We've reached out to discuss the help and support available, and explore payment options to resolve the outstanding amount on her account.'Mabel Banfield-Nwachi