‘Energy prisoners’ unable to switch until they pay disputed bills

Energy customers are being trapped in contracts with suppliers demanding payment of disputed bills.

One Telegraph Money reader, who did not want to be named, was unable to switch away from his supplier after his direct debit more than doubled to £120.

The customer raised a complaint with supplier Powershop, which is backed by Npower, which he believed had overcharged him by £700. He is still with the company and is awaiting his final bill. He is unsure what the final charge will be.

He took his complaint to the Energy Ombudsman but was blocked from moving to a new provider until he had paid his outstanding bill.

He said: “It is outrageous that a company which has made mistakes can continue to be allowed to retain a customer who no longer wishes to use their service due to errors. I am an energy prisoner.”

The Ombudsman ruled that he had received poor customer service and ordered Powershop to apologise and pay £100 compensation. However, the Ombudsman said the provider was within its rights to block the customer from moving.

A spokesman for Powershop said: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused and our customer service shortfalls. All suppliers are in their rights to stop a transfer of supply as stated in the licence conditions.”

Ofgem rules state that if a customer has been in debt to their supplier for less than 28 days, they can still switch.

Any owed amounts will be added to the final bill from the old supplier. If a customer has been in debt to a supplier for over 28 days, they need to repay the debt first. However, if it is the supplier’s fault they are in debt, it cannot stop the customer from switching. Complaints website Resolver received over 22,500 complaints about energy suppliers in the past year, around 10,000 of which were about incorrect billing. Common themes included incorrect meter readings, switching mistakes, back billing and historical debt collection. Resolver’s Martyn James said that as energy bills climbed while people worked from home, so did the number of incorrect billing complaints. He said: “The regulator found over a million errors with switching alone in the last year – so it’s clear that too many errors are occurring.”