Shell Energy to hand refund to tens of thousands of Britons for overcharging on tariffs

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Shell Energy Retail will offer refunds to those affected for the overpayment, along with goodwill cash and a redress fund for consumers held by the energy watchdog. Some customers were accidentally overcharged on their tariffs for periods of time from January 2019.

Ofgem said customers would receive an average refund of around £9.40. It comes as rising wholesale gas prices – which Shell Energy’s parent company has made healthy profits from – are expected to push household energy bills as high as £4,200 a year this winter.

The consumer energy supplier – which was originally branded as First Utility – discovered “operational issues” in March this year which meant that tariff updates in response to changes in the level of the price cap were not implemented on some prepayment meters. 

It found that not all meters had been sucessfully updated with the new default tariff rates, causing the overcharging of some customers but not others.

Ofgem said that the company would now compensate 11,275 households, with a total amount of £106,000 being refunded.

Additionally, the regulator said Shell Energy would make £30,970 in goodwill payments, and a £400,000 payment to Ofgem’s voluntary consumer redress fund.

The money in the scheme goes “to appropriate charities, trusts or organisations in lieu of, or in addition to a financial penalty for breaches of licence conditions”, including energy saving programmes and advice services.

Ofgem said the refunds would be automatically issued to customers affected by the error.

More to follow…

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