E.On punished for smart meter failure
The fine, to be given to the Carbon Trust, has been handed to the ‘Big Six’ energy supplier because it neglected to provide two-thirds of its business customer base with the correct meters by last year’s April deadline.
E.On will face an identical fine if a new interim target is not met by November 2016, as energy regulators Ofgem aim to send a strong signal to all suppliers about the importance of complying with deadlines.
The money is set to fund a new two-year programme, managed by the Carbon Trust, to help small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) improve their energy efficiency.
The scheme will involve energy audits for more energy-intensive SMEs, energy efficiency training events, and advice on how to implement cost-effective energy-saving opportunities and some direct funding of energy efficiency measures.
20,000 business electricity customers should have been supplied by E.On under Ofgem’s plan, implemented since April 2009, to provide advanced meters that give more accurate and regular data on energy usage to larger non-domestic customers.
Anthony Pygram, Ofgem senior partner with responsibility for enforcement, believes it is unacceptable that E.ON failed to roll out advanced meters to these business customers on time.
"Customers have lost out on receiving better information about their energy consumption and the opportunity to control costs. Unless E.ON improves its poor record, it will have to pay out even more and may face a sales ban,” he said.
"The roll-out of advanced meters has the potential to transform the energy market. We expect all suppliers to learn the lessons from this ahead of the domestic smart-meter roll-out, in particular the need to start the process in good time and ensure senior managers are committed to delivering on time."
A spokesman for E.ON explained how the company remained committed to delivering advanced meters to its business customers.
"Installing advanced meters to tens of thousands of business customers across the country was always going to be a significant challenge and one that threw up a variety of hurdles for suppliers to overcome," he said in a statement.
"That said, we cannot, and will not, overlook the fact that we did not do enough in time to meet the deadline and in that regard failed to provide the efficient service our business customers demand and deserve.
“In the last 18 months we have made some further progress and we have invested heavily in increasing our capability and we are taking all reasonable steps to get these meters installed."
Investigations by Ofgem into British Gas’ and npower’s smart meter roll-out performance are still ongoing, while the government also expects energy suppliers to fit more than 26 million households across England, Wales and Scotland with smart meters by 2020.
