Energy firm Scottish Power are set to pay “interest” to some of their customers after over-billing them via direct debits. These payments will only be for those who are between £100 and £500 in credit for their gas and electricity due to incorrect direct debits being setup previously. The company have however been cleared of any intentional wrongdoing by the independent energy regulator Ofgem who have told Scottish Power to explain their billing more clearly in future.

The repayments will work by crediting £1 to customers for every £33 they are in credit on the date where their direct debits are recalcuated. The move has been greeted with a sense of content from consumer organisation Which? who had argued that this ploy by energy companies was a way to achieve massive interest free loans in the form of customers overpaying on their energy bills.

Which? have conducted researched which shows that around 13% of people are at least £100 in credit with their energy supplier but the accusation of deliberate over-charging by the energy industry was rejected by Ofgem who said that companies were just “failing to make clear” the methods use to calculate bills.

Which? said they hoped that other energy companies would follow suit where it is necessary.