Thousands of Brits to get refunded, Good Energy and OVO Energy found to have been overcharging customers

Major energy companies Good Energy and OVO Energy will be required to pay out £2.7 million after the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) found them guilty of charging over the maximum rates allowed under the energy price cap and energy price guarantee to thousands of customers.

In the autumn of 2022, the Government introduced the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) to protect households from increases in energy prices by limiting the price suppliers can charge per unit of energy used. The EPG has since been extended for an additional 3 months at its current level from April to the end of June.

This subsidy is able to bring an average household's bills down to roughly £2,500 a year in Great Britain on a dual-fuel tariff and around £2,109 per year in Northern Ireland.

Between January 2019 and October 2022, Good Energy was found to have overcharged nearly 7,000 customers a total of £391,650 while almost 11,000 OVO Energy customers were found to have been overcharged £1,492,917 during between October 2022 and March 2023.

These figures were computed after Ofgem discovered the two energy providers had failed to adjust their tariffs after thousands of customers changed their payment methods. Affected customers are assured their refunds automatically credited to their new bills.

On average, Good Energy customers will receive £109 OVO Energy customers will receive around £181. The company Good Energy will also have to pay £ 1.25 million to Ofgem for their failure to apply price protections to their customers. OVO Energy will also have to pay £10,000 to the regulator for not reporting issues.

Dan Norton, deputy director of retail at Ofgem, said: "Protecting consumers is always our top priority, and we expect suppliers to ensure customers pay no more than the level of the price cap or energy price guarantee – schemes put in place with the very purpose of helping people.

"It is totally unacceptable that Good Energy and OVO Energy customers were overcharged, particularly at a time that is already so challenging and stressful for consumers across the UK."

"Energy suppliers should hear this loud and clear: we expect suppliers to act with the utmost care and integrity. We will continue to hold them to account if they do not meet their customer protection or reporting obligations," he added.

OVO Energy has since issued a statement saying, "We're very sorry to some of our fixed-price customers who experienced a delay in receiving the energy price guarantee discount. We noticed immediately and self-reported the error to Ofgem. The issue has now been fixed and compensation has been paid as an apology. We have also made a voluntary contribution to the redress fund to help support customers in vulnerable situations."

Their CEO, Nigel Pocklington also apologized for their transgression and said, "We are very sorry that we let some of our customers down and promise to put things right. We have been contacting those impacted to apologise and issue their refunds and goodwill payments and will be fixing the issue so it does not happen again. Every customer payment method change is now being checked and the formal improvement plan we have submitted to Ofgem includes new automated processes, standards and governance to prevent any similar mistake in future."

Last year, South West Water (SSW) customers in 255,000 households in Cornwall were given a surprise discount on their water bill after their conservation efforts helped drought-hit Colliford reservoir reach 30% capacity. Select households got their £30 bill credit automatically deducted from their January water bills.

The government's Household Support Fund also awarded thousands of Brits up to £325 in supermarket vouchers last winter. Various councils in England gave help in the form of free cash and supermarket vouchers from a £500 million support fund.