E fined £260,000 for ‘misleading behaviour’

Energy supplier E has been fined £260,000 after Ofgem found its sales representatives were misleading in their approach to customers.

The regulator found that sales representatives contacted by Energy Watch UK presented themselves to potential customers as working on behalf of an independent price comparison service, rather than E.

The investigation also found E, which supplies gas, electricity and fuels, failed to make sure any of its face-to-face sales agents had sufficient background checks between 2014 and 2017. Ofgem said E’s management knew of these failures in 2014, but did not correct them until this year.

E has now worked with Energy Watch UK to make the face-to-face sales process more transparent. It now also carries out sufficient checks, including criminal records checks, on all prospective and existing sales agents.

No evidence was found to suggest any customers suffered either financially or otherwise from the breaches. However the company will pay £260,000 to Ofgem’s new Voluntary Redress Fund to make amends for the failures.

The money raised from the fine will go to a charity that helps vulnerable energy consumers. E is a smaller supplier and the size of the redress partly reflects the absence of any financial loss to customers.

Ofgem’s senior partner in improving regulation, Martin Crouch, said: “E did not put security and transparency first when it came to face-to-face sales, and risked the trust and wellbeing of potential customers.

“This payment sends an important reminder to all suppliers that there’s no room for misleading behaviour when it comes to selling energy.”

Ofgem added that E fully cooperated with its investigation and has not previously been subject to investigation.