SSE record £10m mis-selling fine

The Gas and Electricity company SSE was forced to apologise after being hit with a record penalty for deliberately misleading customers. The energy watchdog fined the firm £10 million for what it called "prolonged and extensive" mis-selling.

As our Business Editor Laura Kuenssberg reports, they tried to trick customers into switching to them.

ITV News spoke to one of those who did the selling for SSE. He spoke anonymously, and only stayed in the job for a short time:

"You would go to the door and you would say, we realise you're on a high energy tariff - and basically that wasn't true, we didn't know what tariff they were on, or what company they were with. All we knew was their name and address.

"Once you got into the script, you would wipe your feet on the mat and point at their groin so they would move out the way so you could walk into the house.

"I used the first two or three lines [of the script] to get to know the customer, but other than that I found it very difficult - I felt I was taking advantage of a human being, not just a customer."

In a statement, SSE says it "does not regard behaviour of the kind alleged as acceptable and is committed to the highest standards possible in sales, backed up by our industry-leading Sales Guarantee."

Chancellor George Osborne has said that it is "quite right" that energy firm SSE has received a big fine after treating their customers badly.

Ofgem is also conducting mis-selling investigations into Scottish Power, Npower and E.ON.

In April 2012, EDF Energy agreed to pay a £4.5m fine to help vulnerable customers for breaching marketing licence conditions.

• Read: A £10.5m record fine for energy giant SSE

A spokesman for M&S Energy has admitted that some of its customers were affected by SSE mis-selling, but insists the number accounts for less than one percent of the total:

The company refused to reveal exactly how many customers were affected, but said it was a "very small number".

Read: SSE 'mis-sold under one of UK's most respected brands'

Consumer Focus has welcomed Ofgem's decision to fine SSE for the "systemic failure" in its direct selling operations.

In response to Ofgem's £10.5m fine for mis-selling, energy firm SSE's corporate affairs director Alan Young said the firm was "very sorry" about the breaches of the rules.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme

Mr Young also defended the management team still being in place, insisting SSE was one of the "best companies in Britain".