Latest news with #billpayers
The Independent
9 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
Major UK energy company to give thousands of customers £150 compensation for payment error
A UK energy firm will pay thousands of customers £150 in compensation after it failed to pass on a mandatory discount. Utilita must pay a total of £277,000 back to billpayers after it did not make Warm Home Discount payments on time, the regulator Ofgem said. The payments should have been made between 2023 and 2024, however, 4,000 customers did not receive them because of an 'internal error in processing payments'. Utilita paid £30,000 in compensation to customers shortly after the error was first identified. However, it has agreed with Ofgem to pay a further £247,000 to affected customers. Formed in 2003, Utilita has around 800,000 customers in the UK and it specialises in Pay As You Go (PAYG) smart energy meters. The firm started installing smart prepayment meters in 2008, with 90 per cent of its customers now using one. The Warm Home Discount scheme is administered by Ofgem on behalf of the government and gives people on low incomes an automatic payment of £150 each year, which is applied by their supplier. Ofgem's latest supplier performance report shines a light on Warm Home Discount non-compliance, revealing that seven other suppliers also failed to pass them on in 2023 and 2024. The combined compensation payments from these companies was £484,960. This figure includes compensation for affected customers as well as payments to Ofgem's voluntary redress fund or to fuel poverty charities. These were: Rebel Energy (£11,583.14), Good Energy (£3,394.34) Foxglove Energy (£28,805.93), Green Energy (UK) (£18,556.97), Tomato Energy (£40,183.38), Utility Warehouse (£380,928.33) and Tru Energy (£1,508.17). Ofgem has confirmed that these payments have already been made. Cathryn Scott, Regulatory Director of Market Oversight and Enforcement at Ofgem, said: 'The Warm Home Discount is a lifeline for vulnerable energy consumers on low incomes. Even a short delay in making these payments can cause harm to vulnerable customers, so it's vital that suppliers make these payments on time and without hassle. 'Unfortunately, on this occasion, Utilita fell short of our standards by failing to pay some of their customers in a timely manner. Utilita has conducted an audit of their Warm Home Discount processes to make sure this doesn't happen again. 'It's our duty to protect consumers. And today's outcome, as well as the findings set out in our Supplier Performance Report, serve as a reminder to all suppliers that failures to make scheme payments on time are unacceptable, and that we can and will take enforcement action to put things right for customers.'
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Annual energy bills in Great Britain forecast to fall by £129 in July
Average household energy bills could drop by £129, or 7%, in July, according to a new forecast, however analysts have said 'the crisis is not over for bill payers' struggling to afford gas and electricity costs. Cornwall Insight, a leading energy consultancy, has predicted the industry regulator's quarterly cap on energy bills will fall to £1,720 a year for a typical dual-fuel household, compared with its current level at £1,849. The watchdog for Great Britain, Ofgem, sets a cap on the price suppliers can charge for each unit of energy households use. It uses a formula that tracks wholesale energy prices, as well as providers' network costs. Related: Energy bill defaults hit record high, says ONS Ofgem plans to announce the price level of the next quarterly cap on Friday. The cap, which reflects the average annual dual-fuel bill for about 29 million households, will take effect from July until the end of September. The latest estimate from Cornwall marks a small rise from its previous forecast of £1,683 a year, which the analyst said was partly due to increases in energy wholesale markets. Energy prices have been volatile this year, driven lower by economic fears around US trade tariffs. However, optimism over trade talks in recent weeks has helped push up prices in some corners of the market. Trade deals facilitate more economic activity, which typically leads to higher energy prices. Household bills remain far higher than before the energy crisis which began in 2021 and was exacerbated by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine the following year. Dr Craig Lowery, a consultant at Cornwall, said energy bills were still too high for many. 'Prices are falling, but not by enough for the numerous households struggling under the weight of a cost of living crisis, and bills remain well above the levels seen at the start of the decade,' he added. 'The fall is also a clear reminder of just how volatile the energy market remains – if prices can go down, they can bounce back up, especially with the unsettled global economic and political landscape we are experiencing. This is not the moment for complacency.' A record proportion of British households were unable to pay their energy bills by direct debit last month, because there was not enough money in their bank accounts. Jess Ralston, an analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: 'Predicted falls in energy bills simply cancel out recent rises, meaning the crisis is not over for bill payers who are still struggling with gas prices significantly above pre-crisis levels. 'Costs of oil and gas will always be volatile and can be manipulated by foreign actors like Putin, but every home that is insulated and has a heat pump installed reduces our gas demand and so exposure to these geopolitically vulnerable markets.' , the director of regulation at the price comparison website Uswitch, suggested that consumers on a standard variable tariff should consider switching before the lower price cap is introduced in July. 'There are a number of fixed deals on the market already cheaper than the predicted July rates, and we're seeing the biggest savings versus the price cap since autumn 2020,' he said. 'The average household on a standard tariff could save about £332 a year by switching compared with the current price cap, which also beats the latest July prediction by about £200 a year.' Cornwall expects that the price cap will fall again in October, followed by another drop in January, although this is subject to several varying factors, including weather patterns, the impact of the war in Ukraine and EU gas storage rules. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
