E.ON Fined for Selling Energy Saving Bulbs it was Meant to Give Away for Free

As part of the British government Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT), the big six energy companies operating in the region had to introduce measures that would help British homes reduce their carbon emissions. One of the schemes that the government put in place to help achieve these targets was the distribution of free energy saving light bulbs to households around the Kingdom.

E.ON, the German-owned energy firm, has just been ordered to pay £3 million as punishment after it was discovered that they hadn’t actually given all of their bulbs away for free, and were instead selling them.

E.ON was given 25million energy saving light bulbs to hand out. (The Telegraph)

Industry regulator Ofgem told E.ON to pay £2.5 million to 18,500 households, the equivalent of £135 per house, along with a fine of £500,000, which they said would have been much higher had E.ON not fully cooperated with their investigations into the matter. Ofgem explained that the reason for the large portion going to households in need is so that the money does not just disappear into treasury coffers.

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In their investigation Ofgem found that E.ON had not distributed 3.4 million of the 25 million light bulbs it had been given over five years, with many being put on sale in the Ireland, rather than being given to houses in Great Britain.

Tony Coker, the CEO of E.ON UK, said: “We are sorry that these mistakes were made in 2010 and Ofgem has received a board-level assurance that the necessary changes have been made.”

E.ON was actually one of the few companies that achieved its government set energy efficiency targets, along with EDF Energy, Eggborough power, and RWE npower. In May Ofgem stated that it would begin an investigation into the energy companies that failed to achieve the targets.

Sarah Harrison, a senior partner at Ofgem, said: “This case leaves companies in no doubt that Ofgem takes reporting failures seriously. Accurate company reporting is essential to Ofgem's effective administration of the government's environmental schemes.”

By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com