The feed in tariff programme paid people in Britain for the electricity they generate from solar panels. It is currently set at 43p per kilowatt hour and is due to be reduced to 21p per kilowatt hour from April. However, the government decided in October to pay the lower rate to anyone who had solar panels installed after 12th December.

Two solar power companies, Solar Century and Homesun, went to court along with the environmental charity, Friends of the Earth, to challenge the 12th December cut-off point.

The organisations argued that it had been introduced two weeks before a consultation with the Department of Energy and Climate Change over changes to the scheme was due to end. They believed that the timing of the change was unlawful.

Friends of the Earth and the solar power companies indicated that the changes to the feed in tariff scheme could potentially cost thousands of jobs and bankrupt some businesses. The plans had already forced some solar installation projects to be abandoned, either in the planning stages, or some being left unfinished.

The plans for the changes had previously been criticised by both the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Local Government Association. The latter warned that the changes would cost millions of pounds to local councils who had already introduced the technology into some of their poorer council homes.

The government have argued that cutting the solar tariffs now would allow the scheme to continue into the future and said that they would defend against a judicial challenge.

However Friends of the Earth argue that it is not the proposed cut in the tariffs that are the problem but the timing. A spokesperson said: “Solar payments should fall in line with falling installation costs but the speed of the government’s proposals threatened to devastate the entire industry.”

The regulator found that Npower had not been recording customer complaints correctly and that they had also failed to give customers details of the Ofgem services available to customers to redress their grievances.

Ofgem have since confirmed that Npower have now addressed the issues with their complaints procedure and corrected any breaches in the regulations.

A spokesperson from Npower, one of the six major gas and electricity suppliers for the UK, issued an apology for the problems and confirmed that they were working hard to ensure that their customers are put first.

The regulator had issued a similar fine to British Gas earlier this year for similar breaches of the regulations and have indicated that they are now investigating EDF Energy, another major energy supplier in the UK, over their complaints handling procedures.

Ofgem was established in 2003 to help deal with customer complaints which could not be resolved by the energy companies. In 2008, they introduced a new set of regulations, defining how energy companies should handle customer complaints and outlining the standards that customers should expect from the companies complaints procedure.

Sarah Harrison from Ofgem said: “Energy suppliers now have a golden opportunity to convince consumers that they can be trusted, by getting behind Ofgem’s sweeping reforms for the retail market. This is the quickest way of restoring consumer trust in an industry badly tarnished by poor supplier behaviour.”

Consumer Focus have welcomed the latest fines. A spokesperson from the consumer rights organisation pointed out that the Energy industry is not well trusted by people in the UK.

They also suggested that customer services in the energy companies need to change and that the Ofgem fines will send a message to the companies that they will pay the price if they are treating their customers unfairly.

Between September and December last winter, the average price of heating oil used by many customers who are not on the gas network shot up by 70%.

The OFT indicated that this price spike was temporary and was a result of a 40% increase in demand and extra problems in supplying the fuel caused by severe weather at the time. They also added that fluctuations in the price of crude oil were also largely to blame for the increase.

However, the price of crude oil only rose by 17% between the Months of September 2010 and December 2010.

Approximately 15% of homes in the UK are not connected to the gas network and have to use alternative fuel suppliers in order to heat their homes. This accounts for 4 million homes in the UK. Approximately 2.3 million of these homes use electricity to heat their home, 1.1 million homes use heating oil, a further 310,000 use solid fuel and 170,000 use LPG.

Many people who use heating oil to heat their homes have indicated concerns about the long term security of the supply of this type of fuel. A lack of competition amongst suppliers and the lack of transparency in the market has added further worry. Some customers have also faced problems with deliveries, pricing arrangements and even theft.

However, the OFT have indicated that 97% of people who use heating oil have a choice of at least 4 different suppliers which indicated that competition in the market was good and helped to restrain the price of the fuel.

The OFT did find evidence which suggested that some firms have been using some questionable practices. They are now looking into claims that some suppliers charged more for the fuel as it was delivered, after quoting a lower price to the customer when they initially placed their order.

They are also investigating whether some LPG customers were locked into a contract which charged too much after their introductory offer expired. They are also looking into whether some firms have been mis-selling solar panels to people.

The OFT have already taken action against some companies who had websites which posed as a genuine price comparison site.

A spokesperson from Which? suggested that the 70% price increase for heating oil was a serious problem. They also pointed out that no action had been taken by the OFT to protect customers against the possibility that this could happen again this winter.

Audrey Gallacher from Consumer Focus said: “It is welcome that the OFT has taken action on comparison sites and is looking further into issues on dodgy pricing practices and contract lockins.

But as many customers will be worried about prices this winter, they need to see action taken quickly and strong protections in place.”

The prime minister, David Cameron, and the energy secretary, Chris Huhne, will be meeting with consumer and energy groups this afternoon to discuss a resolution to rising energy prices and the hardship they are causing in Britain. Representatives from the industry regulator, Ofgem, will also attend.

Several fuel companies have reacted in advance of the summit, promising that prices will be fixed over the winter. Npower and Scottish Power only pledged to fix some of their prices, leaving the rest open to increases.

Scottish Power will be proactively contacting customers who pay by cash or cheque to ask them if they would like to switch to direct debit, which is usually cheaper. British Gas will introduce new price checking features on their website and will extend their offer to provide free wall or loft insulation to certain customers.

Consumer groups feel that the price promises from the big energy companies are too little too late, as some have already raised their prices substantially in 2011. A recent report from Ofgem suggests that energy companies are now making £125 per year in profits per customer, compared to £15 a few years ago.

In a statement to the MoneySavingExpert website, David Cameron and Chris Huhne said that the government would be pushing for simpler tariffs to encourage more people to switch suppliers, and grants would be made available for household insulation. There will also be winter fuel payments to pensioners.

The idea of simpler tarrifs, with the abolition of the complex ‘first unit charge’ method of billing, has been announced by Ofgem already.

Martin Lewis, spokesman for the website, said: “The Prime Minister needs to deliver as millions face desperate annual energy bills of about £1,300 a year.”

Energy companies have recently ceased to use doorstep salespeople in order to sell gas and electricity tariffs after consumer groups voiced concerns that the best prices were rarely offered

The door to door cold calling sales technique has been criticised for targeting particularly vulnerable people and placing too much pressure on people to sign up to the deals on offer.

Often the best deals available from the companies can only be found on the internet and doorstep salespeople are usually unable to offer them to potential customers.

Earlier this year, government ministers were advised the approximately 40% of all energy contracts that were agreed during a doorstep sale did not give the customer a better deal than they already had.

The Watchdog consumer group have been calling for a ban on the door to door cold calling sales technique. They had previously suggested that companies take a 90 day moratorium on the practice in order to review the technique and discuss possible alternatives. This prompted a number of the main energy suppliers to suspend and review the sale of their utilities through unsolicited visits earlier than planned. British Gas and Scottish and Southern Energy have now become the first to announce an end to the controversial practice.

EDF Energy, who also placed a hold on their doorstep sales earlier this year, have indicated that they are still reviewing the practice. nPower have also confirmed that they are looking at their sales strategies. However, E.ON and Scottish Power have yet to commit to any suspension or cancellation of their door to door cold calling sales.

A spokesperson from British Gas indicated that the staff and customer response to their suspension of unsolicited doorstep calls has been encouraging. However, they suggested that whilst many of their customers prefer to use the internet or their telephone services to purchase gas and electricity, there was still a need for face to face energy advice.

British Gas staff will continue to run events in shopping centres and community centres but will now only visit a potential customers’ homes with their prior agreement, at an arranged time.

The energy supplier hope to move many of their doorstep sales staff into new positions, but they have indicated that there may have to be some redundancies.

Audrey Gallacher, a spokesperson for Consumer Focus, believes that the announcement from British Gas will help to apply pressure on the other main energy firms to suspend or end their existing doorstep sales practices.

Ms Gallacher said: “People feel pressured to switch on the doorstep and thousands have lost out by moving to a worse deal. Energy customers have made it clear that they don’t want or need this type of unwanted sales technique, which ambushes them at their home. We need to see an industry-wide end to cold-call doorstep sales, otherwise continued mis-selling will drive customer distrust even further and trust in key government energy schemes could be damaged.”

When EDF Energy customers receive a bill which estimates the amount of energy they have used, they have the opportunity to call the companies automated telephone meter reading system and give the correct meter reading.

The system fault caused any users who called this automated system to be charged at the new billing rate for the energy supply. This has meant that any users who called after a price drop had been announced were undercharged and any who called after a price increased were overcharged.

EDF Energy have confirmed that they are not going to chase customers for any money if they were undercharged, but they will reimburse any customers who were overcharged, with interest.

If you are an existing EDF Energy customer, you will automatically be reimbursed by the 30th September. If you are no longer an EDF Energy customer, the company have confirmed that they will write to the address that they hold on their system to advise how to claim your money back.

The energy supplier have confirmed that these errors took place between October 2003 and May 2010 and they have also indicated that the total amount of money that has been overcharged is in the region of £200,000.
They estimate that approximately 100,000 people have been affected and whilst one user was overcharged by £500, the majority of individual excess charges amount to under £5.

EDF Energy have re-iterated that this has only affected people who have used the automated telephone meter reading system. Any person who has called their call centre and spoken to an advisor will not have been affected by the error. They have also added that the error has now been fixed.

A spokesperson for the energy supplier has issued an apology for this mistake and have assured people that as soon as the error was diagnosed, the company took steps to fix it.

However, Adam Scorer, from the consumer group, Consumer Focus, has indicated that customers have have the right to know that their bill is correct and if they take steps to confirm their exact meter readings, the company has no excuse for getting the bill wrong.

Mr Scorer has also indicated that many people are concerned about how they are being charged by energy supplier. However, he has welcomed the steps that EDF Energy have taken to address the error they have made.

Ofgem, the industry regulator, confirmed that the company did not break any specific conditions of their licence to supply energy and as such they do not have any power to fine the company.

A spokesperson confirmed that they had instead used consumer protection regulations to make sure that overcharged customers were properly reimbursed.

Ofgem have also confirmed that they are liaising with other energy suppliers to make sure that this incident is a one-off.

This announcement has followed the recent trend in price rises started by British Gas earlier this summer. Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Energy have already announced similar cost increases; E.On are now the fourth major energy supplier to follow the trend.

Out of the remaining big energy suppliers, only EDF and Npower have not announced similar increases to the costs of their utilities, but are soon expected to do so.

These increases have added to growing fears that fuel poverty is on the rise. Approximately 20% of UK homes now spend over 10% of their household income on fuel bills.

The wholesale cost of energy has risen by approximately 30% since last year. Like the other companies who have announced similar rises, E.On have suggested that they have to increase the prices they charge their customers in order to maintain their profits. Graham Bartlett, a spokesperson for E.On, said: “Uncertain times have had a huge effect on wholesale prices, with events in Japan and Libya all having a dramatic effect on gas and power prices in a relatively short period of time.”

The consumer group, Consumer Focus, are calling for action from Ofgem, the energy regulator.

They have suggested that whilst the wholesale cost of energy has risen by 30% this year, these wholesale prices are still approximately 33% lower than they were in 2008. Furthermore, wholesale energy costs have been falling since March this year and are predicted to continue falling.

Experts suggest that energy companies are urging customers to fix their tariffs for the year before more price rises take hold. However, if the wholesale costs of energy continue falling, many customers could find themselves caught out in long term and high price agreements.

Mike O’Connor, the chief executive for Consumer Focus, has indicated that consumer prices are now at an all -time high, even though wholesale energy costs have fallen since 2008. He has suggested that Ofgem need to determine whether these price rises are fair. If they are unable to do so, they must consider referring the issue to the Competition Commission.

There are approximately 5 million E.On customers who will be affected by this price rise.

Uswitch, the price comparison service, confirmed that E.On’s customers have now had a 22% increase in in bills this year, as they had previously announced a 3% increase in gas bills and 9% increase in electricity in February this year. On average, E.On customers have had an increase of £232 to their utility bills to an annual bill of £1293.

E.ON have confirmed that they are offering help to their customers to try to accommodate the rise in their utility bills. They are able to advise customers on home insulation and the installation of solar panels for £99.