Ofgem asks energy suppliers to return up to 400m pounds from closed accounts

Ofgem, the energy market regulator, is calling on large suppliers to make sure money is returned to their former customers after their in-depth analysis revealed that these companies hold more than £400m in credit from closed accounts.

After looking into the energy supplier’s records, Ofgem discovered that around 3.5m household accounts and around 300,000 business accounts were affected, domestic customers being owed at least £202m, while the rest should go to non-domestic ones.

Additionally, Ofgem expects suppliers to do more to return money to consumers, building on recent commitments to provide automatic refunds to current direct debit customers who are in credit.

“When many people are struggling to make ends meet, it is vital that energy companies do the right thing and do all they can to return this money and restore consumer trust,” said Andrew Wright, chief executive of Ofgem.

“We want to see decisive action by suppliers, individually and collectively, to address this issue.”

Nevertheless, in those cases where the money cannot be returned, the regulator expects companies to “find ways to use this money to benefit consumers more generally” and clearly explain what they have done with it.

Ofgem’s initiative is a very commendable one, but it proves once again the merits of installing a separate monitoring system capable of providing real-life consumption data and updated energy costings and expenditure, such as HeatingSave.

The core of the HeatingSave system is a state-of-the-art microprocessor connected to a number of temperature sensors measuring the external outside temperature, room, hot water tank and heating flow & return temperatures. The system can easily calculates the amount of fuel and electricity used each day to prove precisely just how much energy can be saved.

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