Npower ‘hangs head’ in shame as it is hit with £2m fine

The fine, announced today (October 31) follows on from a £2.5m penalty, for British Gas in July and relates to handling of customer complaints.

Npower’s chief executive operating officer, Kevin McCullough, took to twitter this morning to say: “It takes time to conclude upon errors of the past.

“Today is part of that so we’ll hang our heads for a moment to reflect and then move on as we’re already much better than this suggests.”

The fine came after an investigation found Npower had failed to record all the required details of domestic and micro-business complaints.

It had also failed to provide customers whose complaint it could not resolve with ‘key details’ about the redress service provide by the Energy Ombudsman.

And, also failed ‘in some respects’ to put in place adequate policies and processes for dealing with complaints in an efficient and timely manner.

Ofgem’s senior partner for sustainable development, Sarah Harrison, said: “Npower failed to do so and although it took remedial action, it has incurred a penalty for failing consumers.

“Energy suppliers now have a golden opportunity to convince consumers that they can be trusted, by getting behind Ofgem’s sweeping reforms for the retail market.

“This is the quickest way of restoring consumer trust in an industry badly tarnished by poor supplier behaviour.”

Ofgem’s investigation followed consumer research it conducted and published last year.

Luke Walsh