E.ON Next must hand over £5 million in damages after watchdog discovers ‘serious shortcomings’ in customer service
- E.ON Next will spend £4 million reimbursing customers, who will each receive £8
- Ofgem said E.ON Next has now reduced wait times to less than five minutes
E.ON Next is paying £5 million in compensation after more than 500,000 energy supplier customers were potentially affected by poor customer service.
Energy regulator Ofgem found “serious weaknesses” in the company’s offering during a market compliance survey conducted between October and December 2022, including a significant number of unanswered calls and long response times.
About half of all calls to the supplier were dropped, while customers had to wait an average of 18 minutes to speak to E.ON Next, the watchdog said.
Investigation: Energy regulator Ofgem discovered ‘serious weaknesses’ at E.ON Next, including huge number of unanswered calls and long response times
E.ON Next will spend £4 million repaying its customers, receiving £8 each, and hand over a further £1 million to Ofgem’s Voluntary Redress Fund, which helps Britons struggling to pay their bills.
In early February, Ofgem handed over a preliminary order to the Coventry-based company asking it to focus on improving customer service.
The regulator said the company subsequently reduced call waiting time to less than five minutes and dropped calls to less than 10 percent.
Cathryn Scott, Director of Enforcement and Emerging Issues at Ofgem, said E.ON Next’s fine “shows Ofgem’s determination to stand up for consumer rights and raise standards.”
She added: “The least a customer can expect from his supplier is that he picks up the phone on time.”
“As an energy regulator, our goal is to protect energy consumers and this action is a reminder to all suppliers to ensure that their customers can quickly and easily contact them when needed.
‘That is especially important in these times of volatile energy prices when many households are struggling with their bills.’
Gas and electricity prices in the UK skyrocketed in late 2021 and the first half of last year due to the easing of Covid-related restrictions and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Prices were further accelerated by the country’s low gas storage capacity, weaker-than-expected wind and solar generation in 2021, and rising demand for gas in Asia and South America.
Ofgem’s investigation into E.ON Next is part of a broader look at customer service from 17 UK energy suppliers, all of whom have been told they are making improvements.
It revealed ‘moderate weaknesses’ in 11 suppliers, including British Gas, EDF, Good Energy and Scottish Power, and ‘minor weaknesses’ in five others, such as Ecotricity, Shell and Octopus.
Some of the issues identified by the regulator included inconsistent scripts for staff handling complex calls, a large number of customer complaints that were honored by the Energy Ombudsman, and insufficient management information to track performance.