EON fined

[dogtired]

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/b...s-9381779.html

[enaid]

Re: EON fined

E.ON has been fined a record £12 million by regulator Ofgem after an investigation discovered it broke energy sales rules for over three years.

The energy supplier was found to have caused harm through its extensive poor sales practices between June 2010 and December 2013.
Given the vast number of contracts signed in this period, Ofgem said it was likely a large number of customers were mis-sold to by E.ON.
Ofgem said that E.ON failed to properly train and monitor its staff and those it employed through third party telesales agencies, leading to incorrect information being provided to customers on the doorstep and over the phone.



The energy supplier will pay around £35 to 333,000 customers who are normally recipients of the Warm Home Discount and will to around 465,000 customers informing them of how to get in touch to find out whether they were mis-sold to.
Ofgem senior partner in charge of enforcement Sarah Harrison said: "The time is right to draw a line under past supplier bad behaviour and truly rebuild trust so consumers are put at the heart of the energy market.
"E.ON has today taken a good step by accepting responsibility for its actions and putting proper redress in place".

[wales01man]

Re: EON fined

It should be the Directors that are fined they take the credit for everything that's profit for the company then escape any penalty for things like this.
One US president said the buck stops here if only this applied in business we may see a stop to this

[Amethyst]

Re: EON fined

E.ON’s large scale misselling results in biggest supplier payout to consumers Ofgem found management arrangements were insufficient to protect against misselling
E.ON will make automatic payments to some vulnerable customers and has set up a sales compensation fund with a dedicated hotline
E.ON has cooperated and shown willingness to make redress payments
E.ON has today agreed to pay £12m to vulnerable customers, after Ofgem’s investigation found it had broken energy sales rules. E.ON has also committed to compensating any customer that it missold to, including automatic payments to some vulnerable customers.
The agreed redress package reflects the harm caused by E.ON’s extensive poor sales practices carried out between June 2010 and December 2013. Given the large number of contracts signed in this period it is likely a large number of customers were missold to by E.ON and Ofgem took this into account when agreeing the redress package. Ofgem’s investigation found no evidence that E.ON’s senior management set out to deliberately missell to customers, but did find that management did not do enough to identify issues or act on problems when discovered.
Ofgem’s investigation found that E.ON failed to properly train and monitor both its own staff and those it employed through third party telesales agencies, leading to incorrect information being provided to customers on the doorstep and over the phone, which could have misled customers. The investigation also showed failures in E.ON’s management arrangements meant that insufficient attention was paid to ensuring compliance with energy sales rules. E.ON has acknowledged these failings, made considerable changes and improvements to its processes, including ceasing to use the third party agencies involved, and shown good cooperation throughout the investigation. Had this not been the case the penalty would have been higher.
Sarah Harrison, Senior Partner in charge of enforcement said: “Since 2010 Ofgem has imposed nearly £100m in fines and redress on energy companies for various rule breaches, including £39m for misselling, and introduced radical new reforms to make the market simpler, clearer and fairer for consumers. The time is right to draw a line under past supplier bad behaviour and truly rebuild trust so consumers are put at the heart of the energy market. E.ON has today taken a good step by accepting responsibility for its actions and putting proper redress in place.”
As part of this package E.ON has agreed to:

• Pay around £35 to 333,000 of their customers who are normally recipients of the Warm Home Discount. This redress package will benefit pensioners, disabled and low income families
• Additionally, make automatic payments to some vulnerable customers who may have been affected by E.ON’s poor sales practices
• Set up a dedicated hotline 0800 0568 497 and compensate all consumers that it missold to
• Write to around 465,000 customers it has identified through its redress work, informing them of how to get in touch to find out whether they were missold to.

-Ends-

Notes to editors

1. Summary of E.ON’s breaches
Ofgem’s investigation into E.ON’s sales practices found that E.ON:

• Provided misleading information
• Management did not take sufficient steps to ensure sales were compliant with energy sales rules
• Had poor auditing results and failed to act on those poor results
• Did not adequately train staff on selling energy
• Did not always give the key terms of a contract before the contract was agreed.

Breaches for both Telesales and Marketing were from June 2010 – December 2013. You can read the penalty notice on the investigations section of our website.
2. Information on redress package
Customers that believe they may have been missold to can call the dedicated phone number. Customers can call E.ON directly on 0800 0568 497.
E.ON will deliver the £12 million through payments to customers identified under the Warm Home Discount Scheme. Payments will be made to recipients of the 2013/14 core and broader group. It is estimated that over 330,000 customers will receive a payment of around £35.
E.ON will make automatic payments to those vulnerable customers, listed on its Priority Service Register, who were potentially missold to during the investigation period, June 2010 and December 2013.
3. About Ofgem
Ofgem is the Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets, which supports the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, the regulator of the gas and electricity industries in Great Britain. The Authority's functions are set out mainly in the Gas Act 1986, the Electricity Act 1989, the Competition Act 1998 and the Utilities Act 2000. In this note, the functions of the Authority under all the relevant Acts are, for simplicity, described as the functions of Ofgem

[Amethyst]

Re: EON fined

Investigation into compliance with obligations under the gas and electricity supply licences (Standard Licence Condition 25)

Publication date16th May 2014

Company being investigated

• E.ON

StatusOpen

The Authority is proposing to impose a financial penalty on E.ON following the investigation into E.ON’s compliance with Standard Licence Conditions 23 and 25 of its electricity and gas supply licence with respect to telephone and face-to-face sales activities.
By way of background, following the Energy Supply Probe, Ofgem put in place a new version of Standard Licence Condition 25 with a view to helping domestic customers make well-informed decisions in response to telephone and face-to-face sales activities. In particular, domestic suppliers are required to provide estimates and comparisons during face-to-face sales activities (with effect from 18 January 2010) and to secure the achievement of an objective in respect of both face-to-face and telesales activities (with effect from 21 October 2009). In summary, the objective requires domestic suppliers to take all reasonable steps to ensure information provided is complete and accurate, understandable, appropriate and not misleading, and that sales activities are conducted in a fair, transparent, appropriate and professional manner.
The Authority finds that E.ON has failed to comply with various of their obligations in this regard over a protracted period, from June 2010 to December 2013.
The Authority considers it appropriate to impose a penalty on E.ON. However, E.ON has agreed to pay £12m in payments to vulnerable customers. The Authority considers that the payments offered by E.ON to aid consumers will be of greater benefit to energy customers than if a substantial penalty is imposed. Accordingly, the Authority proposes that a nominal penalty of £1 should be imposed.


Main document

• Notice of intention to impose a financial penalty on E.ON 16 May 2014

[Amethyst]

Re: EON fined

If you switched to eon between June 2010 to December 2013 after a doorstep visit, cold call or face to face in the street it may affect you, EON will be writing to anyone affected.

CEO admits he knew about this since 2012 when ofgem started their inquiry.

[bluebottle]

Re: EON fined

E.ON’s large scale misselling results in biggest supplier payout to consumers Ofgem found management arrangements were insufficient to protect against misselling
E.ON will make automatic payments to some vulnerable customers and has set up a sales compensation fund with a dedicated hotline
E.ON has cooperated and shown willingness to make redress payments
E.ON has today agreed to pay £12m to vulnerable customers, after Ofgem’s investigation found it had broken energy sales rules. E.ON has also committed to compensating any customer that it missold to, including automatic payments to some vulnerable customers.
The agreed redress package reflects the harm caused by E.ON’s extensive poor sales practices carried out between June 2010 and December 2013. Given the large number of contracts signed in this period it is likely a large number of customers were missold to by E.ON and Ofgem took this into account when agreeing the redress package. Ofgem’s investigation found no evidence that E.ON’s senior management set out to deliberately missell to customers, but did find that management did not do enough to identify issues or act on problems when discovered.
Ofgem’s investigation found that E.ON failed to properly train and monitor both its own staff and those it employed through third party telesales agencies, leading to incorrect information being provided to customers on the doorstep and over the phone, which could have misled customers. The investigation also showed failures in E.ON’s management arrangements meant that insufficient attention was paid to ensuring compliance with energy sales rules. E.ON has acknowledged these failings, made considerable changes and improvements to its processes, including ceasing to use the third party agencies involved, and shown good cooperation throughout the investigation. Had this not been the case the penalty would have been higher.
Sarah Harrison, Senior Partner in charge of enforcement said: “Since 2010 Ofgem has imposed nearly £100m in fines and redress on energy companies for various rule breaches, including £39m for misselling, and introduced radical new reforms to make the market simpler, clearer and fairer for consumers. The time is right to draw a line under past supplier bad behaviour and truly rebuild trust so consumers are put at the heart of the energy market. E.ON has today taken a good step by accepting responsibility for its actions and putting proper redress in place.”
As part of this package E.ON has agreed to:

• Pay around £35 to 333,000 of their customers who are normally recipients of the Warm Home Discount. This redress package will benefit pensioners, disabled and low income families
• Additionally, make automatic payments to some vulnerable customers who may have been affected by E.ON’s poor sales practices
• Set up a dedicated hotline 0800 0568 497 and compensate all consumers that it missold to
• Write to around 465,000 customers it has identified through its redress work, informing them of how to get in touch to find out whether they were missold to.

-Ends-

Notes to editors

1. Summary of E.ON’s breaches
Ofgem’s investigation into E.ON’s sales practices found that E.ON:

• Provided misleading information
• Management did not take sufficient steps to ensure sales were compliant with energy sales rules
• Had poor auditing results and failed to act on those poor results
• Did not adequately train staff on selling energy
• Did not always give the key terms of a contract before the contract was agreed.

Breaches for both Telesales and Marketing were from June 2010 – December 2013. You can read the penalty notice on the investigations section of our website.
2. Information on redress package
Customers that believe they may have been missold to can call the dedicated phone number. Customers can call E.ON directly on 0800 0568 497.
E.ON will deliver the £12 million through payments to customers identified under the Warm Home Discount Scheme. Payments will be made to recipients of the 2013/14 core and broader group. It is estimated that over 330,000 customers will receive a payment of around £35.
E.ON will make automatic payments to those vulnerable customers, listed on its Priority Service Register, who were potentially missold to during the investigation period, June 2010 and December 2013.
3. About Ofgem
Ofgem is the Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets, which supports the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, the regulator of the gas and electricity industries in Great Britain. The Authority's functions are set out mainly in the Gas Act 1986, the Electricity Act 1989, the Competition Act 1998 and the Utilities Act 2000. In this note, the functions of the Authority under all the relevant Acts are, for simplicity, described as the functions of Ofgem

When looked at in the cold light of day, these breaches are serious. The energy companies have proven, beyond any shadow of doubt, they cannot be trusted and bringing energy generation and distribution back into public hands has to be a priority. I am, as I dictate this post, watching the CEO of E.On on BBC Breakfast saying he will remain in post. Wrong. He should go, along with the rest of the board of directors. Failing this, the Secretary of State should have the guts to initiate disqualification proceedings to prevent them from setting foot in a boardroom for very long time, if at all.

[dogtired]

Re: EON fined

We had been customers for nine years, from when they were Powergen.
Several times they tried to up payments, despite being on fixed contracts.
The one that finished us was when they tried to up ours from £49.00 to £ 83.00, managed, after a long dispute to get it down to £54.00.
Then they decided to change things again and withdrawn the discount for single fuel as they decided it was " unfair" also removed the discount for being a " loyal" customer. In effect, putting the price up, they also stopped the bonus in the way of Tesco points ( think you have to opt in now") yet if I wished to leave I would have to pay a penalty.
They do appear to have waived this and account is now closed.
Early days wih a new provider but saving just under £5.00 a month.
Had to post the link when I read it this morning!

[Rebecca01]

Re: EON fined

Actually EON services are going down day by day, so they get this fine because of there poor management. It's the right time for them to make some decision in the favor of their company.