Ofcom Probes Shell Energy Over Missing End-of-Contract Letters

Energy provider and UK home broadband ISP Shell Energy is facing a new investigation by the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, after the provider indicated that it might not have sent the required end-of-contract and annual best tariff notifications to customers.

The regulator’s End-of-Contract Notifications (ECN) system – as introduced in February 2020 – requires all fixed broadband, mobile, home phone and pay TV providers to issue such notifications to existing subscribers at the end of their term (sent by text, email or letter). The move was intended to help tackle the so-called “loyalty penalty” by keeping customers informed about the best deals and encouraging switching.

However, information provided to Ofcom by Shell Energy itself indicates that it “did not send these notifications to some customers for a period of time starting in February 2021“, while other customer letters may not have contained all of the required information.

The move comes only a day after Shell Energy was shamed by Ofcom’s latest quarterly study of consumer broadband complaints (here). As part of that, Shell Energy was found to have generated the highest volume of fixed broadband complaints, with the main complaint drivers being related to faults, service and provisioning issues (44%).

Ofcom’s Statement

Following consideration of information provided by Shell Energy, Ofcom has decided to open an investigation into Shell Energy’s compliance with its obligations to send end-of-contract notifications (ECNs) and annual best tariff notifications (ABTNs) as required by General Conditions (GCs) C1.23 and C1.32 (formerly C1.10 and C1.17) respectively.

The information provided by Shell Energy indicates that it did not send these notifications to some customers for a period of time beginning in February 2021. It also indicates that some interim letters sent before a full solution was put in place may not have contained all of the required information. As such, the investigation will also examine whether Shell Energy has failed to comply with its obligations under GCs C1.24 and C1.33 (formerly C1.11 and C1.18) which set out (respectively) what information should be included in ECNs and ABTNs.

The regular plans to complete the evidence gathering phase by the end of Summer 2022, and it will probably then take a bit longer before they reach the final conclusion (this could run into 2023). Depending upon the scale of the problem, if Ofcom finds against Shell Energy then it could hit them with a significant fine and or require that the provider make key process / system changes.

UPDATE 12:18pm

We’ve had an extra comment from Ofcom.

Ofcom Spokesperson:

“These notifications play a vital role in helping people save money. More than a million broadband customers have secured a better deal since their introduction, but millions more are still out of contract and paying more than they need to. We’re investigating whether Shell Energy is meeting its obligations to send customers these important alerts.”