One of the UK’s largest energy companies OVO is to pay £2.37m in compensation for customer complaint failures.
Energy regulator Ofgem said OVO will pay £378,512 directly to affected customers.
Due to the “severity of consumer detriment” OVO also paid £2m to a fund supporting energy customers and developing energy projects, the energy industry voluntary redress scheme.
The company is Britain’s fourth-biggest household energy supplier and has about four million customers.
As many as 1,395 people were affected by lengthy delays in having complaints addressed, Ofgem said, with some waiting 18 months. Affected customers will be contacted directly and do not need to take any action, it said.
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What happened?
When complaints were escalated to the Energy Ombudsman, there were delays in taking action on the decisions, the regulator added.
Since Ofgem became involved in June OVO made improvements in its complaints process, Ofgem said.
Now, more resources have been allocated and the complaints system has been changed so senior OVO staff have oversight of complaints.
Concerns had been raised over the time it took OVO to address complaints referred by Citizens Advice Scotland and to take action on decisions from the Energy Ombudsman.