Rewarded for power failure
£1.7m bonuses to energy watchdog staff Households hit by 10% hike in fuel bills
THE energy watchdog that landed 15 million with bigger bills has lavished £1.7million on its staff in bonuses since 2017.
The revelation comes days after Ofgem caved in to industry pressure and raised price caps.
E.ON yesterday became the first firm to take advantage, setting a 10% rise in April.
Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said: “With the energy market in disarray and households facing a huge bill hike months after the price cap came into effect, Ofgem has questions to answer over the timing and appropriateness of these bonuses.”
John O’Connell, of the Tax Payers’ Alliance, added: “It’s not acceptable to be dishing out taxpayers’ money for huge bonuses while the watchdog has overseen some woefully ineffective policies. Bonuses should be a reward for success, not failure.”
Figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws show between April and the end of December last year, Ofgem paid a total of £867,285 in bonuses to 565 civil servants.
That is on top of the £842,170 in bonuses paid to 722 workers in the last financial year. Since 2010 the regulator has dished out £7million.
Ofgem last week blamed soaring wholesale prices and policy costs for its decision to raise its price cap for 11 million households on already costly standard variable tariffs.
It also upped the limit for four million customers on pre-payment meters from April 1. The announcement came a month after a cap on standard variable tariffs came in.
E.ON said: “Ofgem’s review set out that price cap levels would increase. In line with that, we’ll be making changes to our standard variable prices and expect similar movements across the industry.”
Victoria Arrington, of Energyhelpline, said: “There is little doubt this is just the beginning of a crushing wave of price hikes across the Big Six.” And Peter Earl, of Comparethemarket.com, said: “For the past few years, consumers were hit by price increases with concerning regularity. Seems the only change is that now the hikes are sanctioned by the regulator.” Ofgem said all its “pay awards, including non-consolidated performance related awards, are set in line with Cabinet Office guidance”.