Good Energy pays £150,000 in customer compensation for prepayment meter billing failures
Press release
- Publication date
- Company
- Good Energy Limited
- Industry sector
- Supply and Retail Market
Good Energy has paid over £150,000 in compensation and redress after failing to provide final bills and refund credit balances to prepayment meter customers.
An investigation by the energy regulator, Ofgem, found 2,284 prepayment meter customer accounts were affected between 2014 and October 2023 due to an error within its billing system.
As a result of the issue, prepayment customers who transferred to another supplier or terminated their contract did not receive final bills within six weeks, as required under Ofgem’s rules.
As a result of the failures, and in recognition of the impact these issues may have had on prepayment meter customers, many of which may have faced financial difficulty, Good Energy has agreed to pay a total of £150,067. The average sum paid per affected customer was £66.
This includes £55,281 in customer compensation and refunds, and a further £94,786 to the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Fund (EIVRS), which funds projects and schemes to support energy consumers, particularly those in vulnerable situations. Of this, £64,678 was unclaimed customer compensation.
Beth Martin, director for consumer protection and competition at Ofgem, said:
“At a time when so many households are facing financial difficulty, it’s unacceptable that Good Energy failed to provide refunds of money that was owed to customers, compensation they were due, and final bills they were entitled to.
“Driving up standards for consumers across the board is our top priority, and improving billing accuracy is a key part of this. We also expect suppliers to make sure they have robust systems in place to limit the risk of issues like this happening, and to proactively report problems when they arise."
The issue was identified after E.ON Next self-reported the same error to Ofgem last year. A detailed investigation followed, and Good Energy has now updated its systems to rectify the error.
Notes to editors
Where it has not been possible to trace a customer, Good Energy has agreed to make payments to the EIVRS.
The total sum paid also includes compensation payments to customers for breaching Guaranteed Standards of Performance (GSoPs).
Ofgem has also highlighted the importance of suppliers being open and cooperative with the regulator, and self-reporting instances of non-compliance if issues are identified to ensure the impact on customers is minimised.
It is important that suppliers understand their obligations under:
- Standard Licence Condition 27.17, the requirement to take all reasonable steps to send a final Bill or statement of account of the Domestic Customer’s account within 6 weeks of the supplier transfer or termination of the Domestic Supply Contract.
- Guaranteed Standards of Performance (GSoP) regulation 6CA (2020) and regulation 8 (2015), the requirement to make a standard (compensation) payment of £30 within 10 working days of the supplier’s failure to issue a customer a final bill within 6 weeks of the supplier no longer having responsibility for the supply of electricity or gas. If the supplier fails to make a standard payment on time it must make an additional standard payment of £30 within a further 10 working days. To note, an increased compensation payment level of £40 took effect from 2nd January 2025, however £30 was applicable during the period of non-compliance Supplier Guaranteed Standards of Performance (GSOP) Payment Uplift.
- Standard Licence Condition 5A, the requirement to be open and cooperative with Ofgem. The licensee must disclose any actions or omissions that give rise to a likelihood of detriment to Domestic Customers.