Scottish Power handed 12-day sales ban by Ofgem over customer service

Scottish Power has accepted a 12-day sales ban after the company failed to meet Ofgem's customer service targets.

The firm will be banned from "proactive sales", starting from today, over its failure to clear a backlog of outstanding Energy Ombudsman decisions regarding customer complaints.

ITV Consumer Editor Chris Choi reports:

The ban follows an investigation by the regulator in November, which found customers experiencing long call waiting times and delays in receiving bills.

Scottish Power was given three months to improve customer service, but it failed to meet targets.

After the ban was announced, the firm said it was committed to "delivering the best service possible and treating our customers fairly".

Ofgem said despite seeing improvements in Scottish Power's performance, it remained "very concerned about how customers are being treated".

"A sales ban illustrates the difficulties Scottish Power is having delivering the levels of service customers deserve," Sarah Harrison, Ofgem's senior partner for enforcement, said.

"While Ofgem's targets have driven significant improvements on Scottish Power's performance, we remain very concerned about how customers are being treated."