Opus Energy has agreed to pay more than £7 million in refunds, redress and goodwill payments after identifying it overcharged almost 88,000 non-domestic customers between 2003 and 2023.

The non-domestic supplier had two faults in its billing system, meaning customers were temporarily on the wrong tariff or their billing periods were incorrectly duplicated. The faults were initially identified during an audit, after which Opus Energy voluntarily reported itself to the regulator.   

These two faults led to 87,825 customers being overcharged over a 20-year period. While 93% of accounts were overcharged by less than £50 in total, one customer, who has since been refunded, overpaid £102,000.

Opus Energy has since resolved the technical faults and will pay £5.5 million in refunds to affected customers. An additional £1.56 million will be paid in goodwill and redress payments. The supplier has committed not to recover amounts from those customers who were undercharged as a result of the system faults. 

It has identified all affected accounts and has processed refunds automatically for current customers. Former customers will be contacted to receive refunds where the refund due is £2.50 or greater. Any unclaimed refunds and refunds below £2.50 will be paid to the Energy Redress Fund. Accounts still supplied by Opus Energy have already been refunded. 

Jacqui Gehrmann, deputy director of retail compliance at Ofgem, said: “All energy consumers should be able to trust their supplier to provide accurate bills and charge them only what they owe. 

“While things can go wrong, we expect suppliers to identify issues quickly. So, it’s concerning that these billing issues weren’t spotted sooner.

“Many businesses have struggled with the high cost of energy in recent years. Any instance of a customer overpaying, no matter how small, is unacceptable. 

“We’ve worked closely with Opus Energy in recent months to ensure the issues are rectified, and that customers affected are refunded and compensated swiftly.”

While the error is a serious matter, the regulator has taken into account that Opus Energy has cooperated fully with Ofgem’s compliance engagement and has taken steps to address the failings. Had the company not engaged proactively and resolved the issues quickly, the redress package sought would have been higher.  

Any funds being issued as part of “redress” payments are managed by the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme. Charities, and some social landlords, can apply to bid for some of these funds, to pay for projects with a primary purpose of delivering energy efficiency advice to vulnerable residents. Energy Projects Plus is pleased to have delivered multiple project through this Redress Scheme, including our current “Warm and Well” initiative, focussing on supporting residents to increase the warmth of their home, to improve their health and wellbeing.