The Isle of Man Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is assuring gas customers that it has been working proactively with Isle of Man Energy and the Communications and Utilities Regulatory Authority (CURA) to resolve the billing issues since the matter came to light.
It has committed significant resources in advising consumers and collating and summarising any complaints it has received. With the permission of the complainants, it has made representations to Isle of Man Energy by passing details of the complaints on to them and pressing for resolution.
As some but not all of the complaints appear to have been resolved the matter has been escalated by the OFT.
A meeting between the parties was held earlier this week (Monday 16 January) and Isle of Man Energy explained that, whilst the billing issues have essentially been resolved, there is a backlog of complaints that needs to be cleared. Isle of Man Energy gave an assurance that the matter will be resolved in what the OFT considers to be a timely manner, i.e. a matter of a few weeks. The OFT made it clear to Isle of Man Energy that enforcement action will follow if this is not the case.
Gas consumers should raise any concerns about their bills with Isle of Man Energy in the first instance, however, in terms of response time they should bear in mind that there is a backlog of complaints. Anyone who has already contacted Isle of Man Energy, is asked not to contact them again about the same issue, as they will need time to resolve the issue.
If they still have concerns after contacting Isle of Man Energy, then they should contact the OFT on +44 1624 686500 or email iomfairtrading@gov.im for further information and assistance.
The OFT will continue to work to resolve this matter as a priority.
Mr John Wannenburgh MHK, Chair of the OFT, said:
‘The OFT is fulfilling its role as the ‘consumer champion’ and will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action should the billing issues persist beyond the next few weeks.’
