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05/11/2015
The Gas and Electricity company whom specialize in supplying pre-payment meters, Utilita will pay £450,000 to StepChange after Ofgem found it had wrongly blocked 40,000 of its customers from switching to other suppliers. It is also working to refund £110,000 to customers who lost out financially after being stopped from switching. Any unclaimed money will go to StepChange.
Between June 2010 and May 2015, Utilita wrongly stopped customers from switching away. Customers were incorrectly blocked by the supplier in a variety of ways, including automatically blocking those on fixed term contracts.
Utilita also failed to write to customers to explain why their switch had been blocked and what action they could take to resolve any issues. The supplier has now made changes to its processes to ensure there are no unfair barriers to switching.
Source Ofgem:
Full Story: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/utilita-pay-560000-blocking-customers-switching
