Caroline Flint MP, Labour’s Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, commenting on the announcement that ScottishPower has agreed to pay £8.5 million to consumers following an investigation by Ofgem into how it carried out its sales approaches, said:

“This is yet more evidence that Britain’s energy market is broken. Scottish Power is the third energy company to have been caught out misleading the public and two more are still under investigation.

“Yet again Ofgem’s response has been weak and David Cameron refuses to stand up to the energy giants. These companies need to know that if they mistreat their customers there will be a heavy price to pay. But Ofgem has serious questions to answer about why it allowed this problem to go on for so long and it is not insisting that every customer is compensated for every pound they have lost.

“Labour would freeze energy bills for 20 months, reset this market and create a tough new regulator to stop the public being ripped off and deliver fairer prices in the future.”