Energy News

British Gas fined £2.5m for complaint handling

By Garnet Roach - garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk

British Gas fined £2.5m for “failing consumers who complain”.

The UK’s biggest energy provider, British Gas, has been fined £2.5million over the poor handling of complaints, Ofgem has announced.

The regulator said the fine was “a warning from Ofgem that all energy companies must take complaint handling seriously and treat their customers fairly”.

The regulator said British Gas had failed its customers on three levels. It had:

• Failed to reopen complaints when customers had indicated their complaint was not resolved
• Failed to provide information about the Energy Ombudsman’s redress service to customers whose complaint they could not resolve
• Failed to implement adequate processes and practices for dealing with complaints from micro-businesses

However, Ofgem added that, since beginning its investigation into British Gas in June last year, the energy giant had taken steps to improve its handling of complaints.

A British Gas spokesman disagreed with Ofgem, arguing the supplier offers a high standard of customer service.

“At British Gas we look after half the homes in Britain and we take great pride in our customer service,” he said. “Recently, Consumer Focus put us at the top of its league for complaints handling with a four-star rating, and we've won European Call Centre of the Year for the last two years.

“Therefore Ofgem's finding us in breach on a minor point when we have 16 million accounts, is, we feel, totally disproportionate to the issue.”

He did acknowledge problems in dealing with micro-business customers, for which British Gas said it apologised.

“After a £4million investment, we are now confident we meet all of our regulatory requirements,” concluded the spokesman.

Sarah Harrison, senior partner for sustainable development at Ofgem, said: “We warned the industry in March that we would be backing up our plans to reform the retail market with a tough approach to enforcement.

“This £2.5million fine against British Gas, and the other £10million of fines imposed on the energy industry so far this year, sends a clear message to energy companies that they must abide by the rules.”

Ofgem is currently investigating Npower and EDF Energy for complaint handling as well as Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy, EDF Energy and Npower for mis-selling.

It is also undertaking two investigations into Scottish Power for potentially misleading marketing and the difference between its standard credit and direct debit tariffs.