Ofgem has told 17 British energy suppliers that they must improve how they deal with vulnerable customers. The energy regulator has said that "severe weaknesses" have been identified in its review of five suppliers: Good Energy, Outfox, SO Energy, Tru Energy and Utilita.
The firms had told Ofgem how they identify and keep a record of which customers are in a vulnerable situation and whether they add them to a priority register. They also set out to Ofgem whether they were offering free gas safety checks to eligible households, identifying those on pre-payment meters who are vulnerable, and providing information to customers.
Ofgem’s director of Retail Neil Lawrence said: “From eligible customers who are missing out on free gas safety checks through to companies not identifying vulnerable customers to be offered obvious support on the Priority Services Register, this robust review has highlighted that suppliers need to do more to support consumers. We welcome the cooperation from suppliers and action taken so far, and, although we are seeing some very good practice in parts of the industry, we can see there is still much more to be done.”
