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Eon is set to pay out £7 million after failing to deliver advanced meters targets to its business electricity customers by the April 2014 deadline, Ofgem said on Monday.
The supplier only managed to meet 65 per cent of its obligation and says it will now pay £7 million to the Carbon Trust. The supplier could face a further £7 million penalty and a sales ban unless it meets its new interim target.
Ofgem said the government’s advanced meter roll-out scheme for businesses began in 2009, meaning Eon had five years to fit around 20,000 customers advanced meters but failed over 7,000 customers which did not get a meter on time.
Ofgem said it is “unacceptable” to fail business customers, and warned other suppliers to learn the lesson that Eon’s payout represents.
“Customers have lost out on receiving better information about their energy consumption and the opportunity to control costs. Unless Eon improves their poor record, they will have to pay out even more and may face a sales ban,” said Ofgem senior partner Anthony Pygram.
“The roll-out of advanced meters has the potential to transform the energy market. We expect all suppliers to learn the lessons from this ahead of the domestic smart-meter roll-out, in particular the need to start the process in good time and ensure senior managers are committed to delivering on time,” he added.
The regulator said that Eon has made “some further progress” towards meeting its goals for the next year. If it fails a second £7 million payout will be required and after a further 6 months could face a ban against acquiring new business customers.
Eon admits not doing enough to meet its target but says it is now investing heavily to meet the new targets.
“We cannot, and will not, overlook the fact that we did not do enough in time to meet the deadline and in that regard failed to provide the efficient service our business customers demand and deserve. In the last 18 months we have made some further progress and we have invested heavily in increasing our capability and we are taking all reasonable steps to get these meters installed,” said a spokesman for the company.
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