Scottish Power fined £8.5m for mis-selling

The watchdog said Scottish Power did not appropriately monitor its doorstep and telesales agents, which led to misleading information being provided to customers - a breach of its marketing licence conditions.

The fine will be used to compensate those affected and help vulnerable customers, Ofgem added.

Energy companies in Britain have come under fire this week after three of the “big six” suppliers hiked their prices.

RWE npower raised its household electricity and gas charges yesterday by an average of 10.4 per cent - almost four times the rate of inflation.

In a separate statement, Ofgem said new rules taking effect today would ban energy suppliers from raising prices on fixed-term tariffs, and would also ban them from automatically rolling households on to another fixed-term offer when their current one ends.