Britain’s largest residential gasoline and electrical energy provider is about to pay £1.5m in refunds and compensation after failing to offer prospects with last payments inside six weeks, Ofgem has stated.
Octopus Power has agreed to pay a median of £43 per affected buyer in compensation and redress, to a complete of £1.48m.
It comes after regulator Ofgem discovered greater than 34,000 prepayment meter prospects between 2014 and October 2023 didn’t obtain their last payments inside the vital timeframe.
The sum being paid by Octopus Power contains refunds of £231,000 of credit score that was remaining on accounts once they had been closed, and an extra £1.25m in compensation to affected prospects.
Octopus Power now has 7.5 million retail prospects in Britain, following its 2022 rescue of the collapsed power provider Bulb, and the next acquisition of Shell’s dwelling power enterprise.
In January, it introduced that it had change into the nation’s greatest provider – surpassing Centrica-owned British Fuel – with a 24% market share.
It additionally has an extra 2.5 million prospects exterior the UK.
Beth Martin, director for shopper safety and competitors at Ofgem, stated: “It is vital that prospects obtain last payments in accordance with our guidelines, so they’re conscious of any credit score remaining on their accounts and might reclaim it.
“This is particularly important for prepayment meter customers who are more likely to be in financial difficulty.
“We’re happy that Octopus has now rectified the error and put issues proper with its prospects, providing each refunds and compensation the place it is due.”
Ofgem said the issue was identified after E.ON Next self-reported the same error to the regulator.
Octopus said Ofgem had spent “two years investigating an alleged challenge with prepayment meter payments that had zero buyer complaints and had already channelled hundreds of thousands of kilos into prospects’ palms”.
It said that while Ofgem’s ruling that prepayment customers must receive a final bill upon moving out was “wise in precept”, it was unimaginable to implement usually.
