E.On to pay £14.5m to customers after bill error

Almost 100,000 E.On customers with pre-payment metres will receive an average of £144 each because of an billing error by the energy supplier, the regulator Ofgem has said.

E.On failed to pay the credit in the accounts of mostly vulnerable customers who had ended their contract with the supplier in a mandatory six-week window.

It will now pay both the credit and millions in compensation to the customers affected between February 2021 and September 2023.

Ofgem called the error "unacceptable". E.On said it was "deeply sorry" and that all identified affected customers have been contacted.

It added it has "since made significant changes to prevent it from happening again".

The pre-payment customers, who are "often vulnerable", were not made aware they were in credit when they cancelled their contracts, Ofgem said.

The credit amounted to £4.7m in total, but E.On is required to pay £6.6m compensation and has voluntarily agreed to pay £3.2m.

Ofgem said the £14.5m total payment is "in recognition of the impact on its customers, many of which may have faced financial difficulty".

In cases where the customer cannot be identified, Ofgem said E.On will pay into the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme - a charity which supports vulnerable energy customers.

E.On has also agreed to write-off debt held by almost 150,000 prepayment customers who cancelled their accounts over the same period.

Ofgem said that it is progressing claims "against other suppliers on the same issue".

E.On is not the first supplier to face criticism over its treatment of customers who use pre-payment metres.

Its rival British Gas has come under scrutiny in the past for force-fitting the devices and chasing customers over incorrect bills.

British Gas previously told the BBC it does not excuse the force fitting, which was done by a contractor, and that the customer chased over an incorrect bill will not be required to pay it.

Energy suppliers have paid compensation totalling £342,450 to customers who were wrongly put onto pre-payment meters between the start of 2022 and the end of January 2023.

The revelation of E.On's bill error comes after the latest official figures show inflation rose as a result of higher energy prices.