Ofgem is proposing to fine small power supplier Symbio Energy £100,000 for failing to pay into renewables schemes on time.
The fine, which will be reduced to £85,000 if Symbio chooses to settle, follows an investigation launched earlier this month after the retailer made four late payments into environmental schemes.
Ofgem added that senior management were aware rules were being broken by not meeting the deadlines but still did not prevent the rule-breaking from taking place.
Last year, Symbio missed deadlines to pay into the renewables obligation scheme buy-out fund or present a required number of RO certificates (ROCs) by the initial deadlines of 31 August and 1 September 2020. It then missed the 31 October late payment deadline by a fortnight, making payment on 13 November.
The retailer also missed three other payment deadlines over a four-month period for the government’s environmental schemes. This included one RO mutualisation payment, which suppliers must make to cover the shortfall in the previous year. It also includes two FIT quarterly levelisation payments, which pays owners of small-scale renewable generators and is funded through levies on suppliers.
In October Ofgem revealed it had issued three suppliers with final orders over their failure to make a total of £15 million in RO and FIT payments. Symbio was among these and listed as owing more than £500,000 in RO.
The regulator also said that while it acknowledged the financial impact the pandemic has had on suppliers, other energy retailers went to “considerable lengths” to pay on time.
Symbio has since made all payments, which totalled around £1.2 million.
Cathryn Scott, Ofgem’s director of enforcement and emerging issues, said: “Suppliers that do not make payments on time undermine the integrity of these schemes, gain unfairly financially, and ultimately leave consumers and other suppliers to pick up the tab.
“This proposed fine sends a strong message that Ofgem will not tolerate suppliers who do not meet their obligations around paying into these schemes and that growth cannot be at the expense of meeting regulatory obligations.”