E.ON has accepted a £500,000 penalty imposed by Ofgem and agreed to pay an additional £2.5m to customers who are eligible to receive the 2013/14 Warm Home Discount Broader Group payment.

Customers can apply for the 2013/14 Warm Home Discount Broader Group payment at www.eonenergy.com/warmhomediscount.

This follows an error in reporting and failings in the administration of a scheme relating to the distribution of free energy saving light bulbs (compact fluorescent lamps) that had been notified to Ofgem as part of its Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT) programme in 2010.

The energy efficiency scheme provided free energy saving light bulbs to consumers in Great Britain but some E.ON bulbs destined for Great Britain ended up in the Republic of Ireland and, in respect of other bulbs, E.ON was not able to provide appropriate evidence of their actual distribution.

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The CERT programme, which has now ended, required energy suppliers to work towards emissions targets through a wide variety of measures and, as one of those, E.ON provided GB consumers with free low energy light bulbs to replace incandescent bulbs.

Whilst the scheme saw many energy saving bulbs light up British homes, E.ON failed to accurately report information relating to energy saving light bulbs distributed under one of its CERT schemes and had failures in the systems and procedures it had in place to ensure its reporting was accurate.

Commenting on the penalty and settlement agreed with Ofgem, Tony Cocker, Chief Executive of E.ON UK said: "We're sorry that these mistakes were made in 2010 and Ofgem has received a Board level assurance that the necessary changes have been made. Our controls should have been stronger and our processes more robust.

"It was important to us that, as part of putting this right, customers in fuel poverty or in a fuel poverty at risk group should receive a portion of the penalty we faced in the form of the additional payments we are making. We're pleased that Ofgem agreed and has allowed us to do so."

(CD/JP)