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The regulator has launched a consultation to protect customers from back billing.
Ofgem has launched a consultation on back billing, with a view to “protecting the interests of existing and future gas and electricity consumers”.
As announced last month, the consultation is on plans that will prevent suppliers from back-billing customers for energy used more than 12 months ago.
This will be regardless of whether consumers have a traditional meter or a smart meter installed.
In 2007 energy suppliers signed up to a voluntary commitment not to back-bill domestic customers for energy used more than a year previously, if the supplier is at fault.
But Ofgem wrote an open letter in April having received case studies from Citizens Advice, which showed the voluntary principle was not being applied consistently and that not all suppliers had appropriate back-billing protections in place.
“We think it is unacceptable that consumers face these back bills through no fault of their own, and should rightfully expect their supplier to bill them accurately,” the regulator said in April’s letter.
Citizens Advice has since called for the 12-month limit to be a mandatory requirement in supplier’s licences.
The deadline for consultation responses is 18 December.
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