EDF agrees £4.5m payout following sales investigation

by Simon Ward on 09 March 2012  |  1 comment
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The energy giant has agreed to give money to vulnerable customers and an energy awareness programme after Ofgem ruled it had broken its sales guidelines.

Energy giant EDF has agreed to pay out £4.5 million following an investigation into its sales practices.

The investigation, by energy regulator Ofgem, found that EDF had not adhered to Ofgem’s regulation on the clarity and accuracy of sales information.

Ofgem said that EDF customers were not always provided with information by sales staff on contract terms, how direct debits were calculated and how estimates of their energy consumption were worked out.

It also found that EDF telesales staff had claimed that customers could save money without checking whether a customer was on a standard tariff.

However, Ofgem says EDF has “engaged in a constructive dialogue about shortcomings in the firm’s sales processes and has taken a proactive approach to addressing those shortcomings”.

It added that that “constructive dialogue” and the fact that EDF had accepted its shortcomings prevented the penalty from being higher.

Around £1 million of the £4.5 million will go to the Energy Best Deal programme run by Citizens Advice, which helps people to get a better deal on their energy supply. The other £3 million will be paid out to customers who are at risk of fuel poverty.

Ofgem is also continuing to investigate npower, Scottish Power and SSE, although it has stressed that none of these companies has been found to have broken the rules.

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