power companies over charging

One of the UK's largest energy suppliers, E.On, has agreed to pay a further penalty of £7.75m for overcharging its customers.

The payment was ordered as a result of the company's "repeated failing" by the energy regulator, Ofgem.

Some customers paid too much in the process of switching. Others were wrongly charged exit fees.

E.on apologised to its customers, and admitted it was not the first time it had made the mistake.

In November 2012 the company paid a £1.7m penalty for the same thing, although the company said the underlying reason was different.

"It's absolutely unacceptable that E.On failed to provide these vital customer protections yet again, and this persistent failure is the reason for the high penalty," said Sarah Harrison, Ofgem's senior partner in charge of enforcement.
Bills

In the latest case, around 48,000 customers were potentially affected.

Many of those were in the process of switching to another supplier, after E.On announced price rises in January 2013 and January 2014.

But in the meantime their bills were increased anyway - against the rules.

Others were charged exit fees, even though customers are allowed to move without penalty when tariffs go up.