Ofgem imposes sales ban on Scottish Power

Watchdog Ofgem has issued a 12-day sales ban to energy supplier Scottish Power.

The restriction was imposed after the company failed to meet Ofgem's customer service targets. Scottish Power is currently one day into the ban after it was imposed on Wednesday (March 4th). Ofgem had given Scottish Power a set of targets in winter 2014 which the company was tasked with achieving.

These included: reducing the length of customer waiting time from three to two minutes, cutting amount of overdue bills from 75,000 to 30,000 by the end of December and removing a backlog in acting of ruling made by the Energy Ombudsman by the close of November. Ofgem imposed the ban after Scottish Power failed to meet the requirements.

Sarah Harrison, Ofgem's senior partner in charge of enforcement, said: "A sales ban illustrates the difficulties Scottish Power is having in delivering the levels of service customers deserve.

"While Ofgem's targets have driven significant improvements in Scottish Power's performance, we remain very concerned about how customers are being treated."

Scottish Power responded to the statement by announcing that its sales advisers would be using the 12 days to provide extra support to the customer service teams across the UK. It added that it is confident that customers will be able see the investment the company has been making in its IT system.

Mis-selling allegation

Scottish Power faced allegations over the summer from ministers over the mis-selling of products. In July 2014, the company was accused of offering customers extended warranties and goods which could not be refunded if they are not used within five years.

At the time, Labour MP Gerry Sutcliffe called for the launch of a new investigation into the scheme and had backed a parliamentary Early Day Motion to raise the issue at Westminster. Prime minister David Cameron added that the government would be working to "get to the bottom" of the issue.