Energy companies face a fresh public battle after new findings revealed that consumers have still been overcharged by an “unacceptable” £100m as a result of billing blunders, even as complaint rates fall.
The industry’s second major spat in as many weeks has erupted after a survey of energy users found that around 1.3 million bill payers claim to have been overcharged by their energy supplier in the year ending in May, the Telegraph reports.
The report, from energy switching site uSwitch, said consumers were typically overcharged by £79 each, at a total cost of £102m to consumers.
Most bill payers managed to claim their money back, but the process has typically taken on average 35 days, and 3 per cent have “never got their money back”.
Claire Osborne, from uSwitch.com, said the suppliers’ mistakes are “unacceptable”.
“Households are already feeling the pinch from recent energy price rises, and having to chase for an average of 35 days to get their money back simply adds insult to injury,” Ms Osborne said.
“We want to see companies do much more to make life easier for their customers, accurate bills are the bare minimum they should expect from their energy suppliers,” she added.
But the energy trade body has hit back at the report, claiming it shows that suppliers have managed to reduce its overall number of complaints by 2 million.
The industry Ombudsman’s latest report revealed 3.5 million complaints in the twelve months of 2016 of which 2.6 million related to billing issues, including overcharging and other errors. By these estimates the average number of billing complaints per month is down roughly by half.
The industry regulator Ofgem said it has already taken strong action to address billing failures in the industry and has secured payouts totaling £40m from suppliers found to have treated customers unfairly.
“We are working with suppliers to make bills easier to understand and Ofgem’s rules already require suppliers to make clear on bills whether they are based on a customer’s actual or estimated energy usage,” a spokesman for the industry said.
He added that smart meters will address the issue of estimated readings because these consumers will be billed based on their actual energy usage.
The latest round of industry in-fighting has emerged amid an ongoing and fierce debate over rising energy costs and their impact on bills. British Gas claimed its recent price hike was due to the rising cost of Government energy policies, but the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said it does “not recognise” the figures it has used.
