Ofgem have announced that the country’s biggest household provider, British Gas, is to pay £11.1 million for failing to meet key targets. The announcement comes just a week after power generators Drax and InterGen were stripped of a record £39m sum for similar failures.
The watchdog said the latest penalty would benefit vulnerable customers after its investigation found British Gas missed its environmental obligations under the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) and Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT).
Under CESP, energy suppliers and generators were required to deliver energy saving measures to households by the end of December 2012.
Ofgem found that British Gas delivered just 62.4% of its obligations on time, meaning 6,750 households in low income areas experienced delays in receiving energy saving measures.
Claire Miles, the managing director of British Gas New Energy, said: “We’re hugely committed to the success of our energy efficiency programmes and are sorry that we missed the December 2012 deadline. However, we’re pleased that in the end we managed to help more vulnerable people under this scheme than was required. The donation we’re making will further help those struggling to keep their homes warm.
“We take our responsibilities to our customers very seriously and do all we can to help them keep their bills as low as possible. Providing free insulation is a big part of that, as well as giving our customers ways to manage and understand their energy use through smart meters and other new technologies.”
British Gas pointed out that because it was the largest supplier of energy to UK homes, it was obliged to deliver more efficiency measures than any other company. It claimed that in the last five years it had insulated more than 2.5 million homes.