British Gas to provide £1 million in compensation for mis-selling

Energy market regulator Ofgem has managed to secure a £1 million compensation package from British Gas for mis-selling to customers in Sainsbury’s stores and Westfield shopping centre.

Between February 2011 and March 2013, British Gas staff in Sainsbury’s stores and Westfield shopping centre made exaggerated savings claims to prospective customers by comparing monthly direct debit with quarterly payment methods to produce inaccurate savings estimates rather than using a like for like approach.

Furthermore, due to the approach described above, in some cases, customers were told that they would save money by switching, but in fact they paid more with Sainsbury’s Energy or British Gas than they would have paid if they had remained with their current supplier.

Because of this, the company has agreed to provide the £1m compensation package, comprising 566,000 direct compensation to affected customers and £434,000 to help vulnerable customers via the British Gas Energy Trust.

British Gas has identified customers who were potentially mis-sold to and has made an average payment of £130 to 4,300 affected customers but it was unable to contact around 1,300 ex-customers.

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