Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether their Department has made an assessment of the impact of energy suppliers incorrectly reporting missed payments to credit reference agencies based on erroneous estimated bills on consumers.

While this is a commercial matter between suppliers and credit reference agencies, the Government takes the issue of accurate billing very seriously.

All suppliers must take the required steps to reflect accurate meter readings in bills or statements sent to customers where these have been provided by a customer or obtained by the supplier. This is also laid out in the Ofgem’s licence conditions.

All energy suppliers must follow Ofgem’s enforceable overarching principles of the Standard Licence Conditions 0 and 0A. These are a set of broad and enforceable ‘standards of conduct’ principles that set fundamental expectations on how suppliers must ensure fair treatment of each customer. These principles guide supplier behaviour, information provision, and customer service processes.