Ofgem, the regulating body for the energy industry, have issued a £2 million fine to Npower because of a failure to correctly handle customer complaints.
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.