Co-operative Energy have been hit by a £1.8 million from Ofgem after numerous customer service failings.
Ofgem released a statement on Thursday announcing an agreement in which Co-operative Energy will pay compensation to consumers after poor call handling, complaints services and general billing processes.
According to the statement, the majority of the sum has already been paid by the energy company, having thus far issued payments totaling £1.6 million.
Ofgem’s senior partner commented:
“While customers experienced unacceptable levels of service, Co-operative Energy has done the right thing by taking responsibility for the situation and paying out compensation to those people affected.
“If trust is to be restored in the energy market suppliers must make amends to their customers when things go wrong. We want all suppliers to constantly ensure customers are treated fairly.”
According to Ofgem’s findings, customers encountered problems with online accounts which left them unable to submit meter readings or access their bill details. Co-op have attributed to the issue to a malfunction after installing a series of new digital systems in March 2015. The energy provider has since pledged their intention to rectify the issues and ensure customer service is improved.
Ben Reid, chief executive of Midcounties Co-operative which oversees Co-op Energy, stated:
“As the UK’s only member-owned energy supplier, we put our customers at the heart of everything we do and their interests first.
“We have apologised to those customers who were affected by the problems we experienced when we introduced a new IT system last year. The system issues are now resolved and we have made significant improvements to our service.”
Ofgem is an independent regulator for energy and gas companies, operating in the UK. The company began investigations into Co-operative energy, one of the UK’s smaller energy providers, following a notable increase in independently filed consumer complaints reported.