The Problem

Citizen's Advice ran an investigation that found distribution networks in the UK were accidentally given more than £4bn of excess profits since 2021 - these have been paid by every household through standing charges on our energy bills over the last four years. This works out to roughly £130 per household. 

A further explanation from me: https://theregulatorguy.co.uk/ofgem-refuse-to-return-4bn-standing-charge-over-payments/

When the energy crisis hit, a lot of energy suppliers lost out on revenue because they were paying more for the energy than they could charge us due to the price cap. The following year, Ofgem allowed them to "clawback" the lost revenue by charging each of us £150 extra across the year. That resulted in British Gas getting profit levels 10 times more in 2023 than they got in 2022 (see graph below). They saw this as "fair" for the energy suppliers. 

It's important to be clear, this British Gas/£150 charge I mention here is an example of a time when Ofgem's formula disadvantaged businesses in the energy industry and so Ofgem made the decision to claw the money back from customers. I use this example only to show that Ofgem can make decisions to claw money from customer to businesses, so they should also make the decision to claw money from businesses to customers if their formulae have resulted in customers being charged too much, this would be fair.

The £4bn excess profits have been given to network companies, i.e. those that operate all the cables and pipes across the country, not the energy suppliers themselves. We're looking for Ofgem to be fair and claw back the money from these companies, similar to how they clawed money back from consumers for the benefit of energy companies during the energy crisis. 

The Ask

Ofgem have apparently said they'll be tougher on pricing control mechanisms going forward but this isn't enough. We're asking that Ofgem give us our money back! This can be done simply by taking £130 off of standing charges for a year, helping us clawback what we've overpaid to these network companies over the last few years. 

This is what is fair for consumers. When energy companies were underpaid, we were charged excessive amounts during the worst energy crisis in history, now we've found out that we were overcharged for network costs, we should be given this money back. 

Please sign this petition to show your support for this call and share it around with your friends, family and social media profiles, letting them know this injustice has happened and that we need to call on Ofgem to get our money back.