Feb. 28
The Big Six energy companies have been told to hand back more than £400 million owed to customers from closed accounts.
In yet more bad news for the UK's biggest energy companies, regulator Ofgem said the amount of money left in business and domestic accounts is "unacceptably large" and that the firms were not doing enough to refund customers who had either switched to another provider or moved home.
It is currently investigating whether the firms' polices are complying with existing rules and said it expects the Big Six to do "all it can" to return the money.
It estimates the companies hold at least £202 million from domestic customers and £204 million from business accounts. The Big Six have been under fire in recent months after all of them increased their prices before Christmas, putting more strain on family finances.
Andrew Wright, interim chief executive of Ofgem, said: "When many people are struggling to make ends meet, it is vital that energy companies do the right thing and do all they can to return this money and restore consumer trust.
"We want to see decisive action by suppliers, individually and collectively, to address this issue and, wherever possible, to ensure the balances they currently hold are returned to consumers.
"Where this can't be done, any remaining sums should be used to benefit consumers more generally, and suppliers need to be very clear with consumers about what they will be doing with this money."
If the money cannot be returned to the account holder, Ofgem expects companies to use the money to "benefit consumers more widely", it added.
Source: http://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/2014-02-28/ofgem-slams-big-six-energy-firms-holding-customers-cash?
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