The Fine Times Table
We thought it would be interesting to look back at the energy market since Business Juice first came into existence.
In July 2009, uSwitch for Business began trading as an independent entity for the first time, in that time many things have happened in our business, not least our 2013 rebrand to Business Juice.
Whilst this holds happy memories for us one set of events that has left us truly staggered when we’ve reviewed the timeline since our 2009 inception is the number of times, and amount, the Big 6 energy suppliers have been fined for various market misdemeanours.
As at May 2014, those fines total an incredible £57,000,000, of which £45,000,000 has come in the last 18 months alone.
As this is a very serious indictment of the energy market, we thought it would be interesting to keep a record of this seemingly ever-expanding list….
Enter our ‘Fine Times Table’ where we detail each fine levied and the reason for the punishment.
For now this is what the last 5 years have delivered:
Business Juice’s Fine Times Table – May-14
Ofgem were clearly slow to react to misdemeanours with fines in the early years of 2009-10 however once into their stride their application, the size and regularity of punishment increased and has grown significantly in 2013/14.
| Big 6 Supplier | Date | Fine | Reason |
| Scottish Power | May-14 | £750,000 | Over-charging |
| E.ON | May-14 | £12,000,000 | Mis-Selling |
| Npower | May-14 | £125,000 | Reporting errors |
| British Gas | Apr-14 | £5,600,000 | Transfer blocking |
| Npower | Dec-13 | £3,500,000 | Mis-Selling |
| Npower | Dec-13 | £1,000,000 | Billing * |
| Scottish Power | Oct-13 | £8,500,000 | Mis-Selling |
| E.ON | Jul-13 | £3,000,000 | Reporting errors * |
| SSE | Apr-13 | £10,500,000 | Mis-Selling |
| E.ON | Nov-12 | £1,700,000 | Over-charging* |
| EDF | Mar-12 | £4,500,000 | Mis-Selling* |
| Npower | Oct-11 | £2,000,000 | Complaints |
| British Gas | Jul-11 | £2,500,000 | Complaints |
| British Gas | Jul-11 | £1,000,000 | Reporting errors |
| EDF | Jun-10 | £200,000 | Complaints |
Business Juice’s Fine Times Table – The suppliers – May-14
In ranking order, the worst transgressor, or at least the Big 6 supplier that has been fined the most is E.ON with fines totaling nearly £17m. Incredibly these have been levied in just 18 months. EDF has been fined the least but please note that these totals do not include the fines levied on EDFs network business over the period.
| Big 6 Supplier | Fine |
| E.ON | £16,700,000 |
| SSE | £10,500,000 |
| Scottish Power | £9,250,000 |
| British Gas | £9,100,000 |
| Npower | £6,625,000 |
| EDF | £4,700,000 |
Business Juice’s Fine Times Table – The reasons – May-14
The reasons for the fines are hugely dominated by the issue of Big 6 supplier mis-selling with a total of £39m of fines for misdemeanours in selling or nearly 70% of all fines.
| Reason | Fine |
| Mis-Selling | £39,000,000 |
| Transfer blocking | £5,600,000 |
| Complaints | £4,700,000 |
| Reporting errors | £4,125,000 |
| Over-charging | £2,450,000 |
| Billing | £1,000,000 |
We hope the list won’t get too much bigger, especially with the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) Investigation underway, however you can be sure that if any new fines are added we’ll reissue the latest ‘Fine Times Table’.
* Voluntary / negotiated payment in lieu of fine