The UK government and UK energy regulator had added to Npower’s woes after it twice headed the Big Six ‘league table’ as ‘most complained about energy supplier.
The Department for Energy (DECC) has strongly criticised a recent Npower analysis of the impact of energy levies on household fuel bills as ‘being misleading on so many levels.’
Government estimates that the impact of our social and environmental programmes will in fact lower energy bills compared to what they would be in the absence of our policies, by as much as £166 in 2020.
A DECC spokesman said: “A number of the policies listed by Npower don’t have any impact on household energy bills, including the Renewable Heat Incentive, Climate Change Levy and the Carbon Reduction Commitment.
And OFGEM said that “Npower’s data on network costs is incorrect and misleading.”
A spokesman for the UK regulator added: “We offered to help Npower improve the accuracy of their numbers for network charges. It is disappointing that they did not engage fully with us until after the document had been circulated.
“Ofgem directly regulates the money that network companies can earn through charges. Given this level of certainty we can see that after 2014 network costs per household are expected to remain broadly flat in real terms. It is unclear how Npower can state with any authority otherwise.”
Pixie Energy is an incubator and a facilitator of strategic research and project work, focusing on energy regulation, policy and markets at the local and national level. Find out more about Pixie Energy