The Office of Fair Trading is investigating after a number of gas customers queried their bills.

The OFT says has been working with Isle of Man Energy (previously Manx Gas) and the Communications and Utilities Regulatory Authority to resolve the problems.

It says it has committed ‘significant resource’s in advising consumers and collating and summarising any complaints it has received.

With the permission of the complainants, it has made representations to Isle of Man Energy by passing details of the complaints on to them and pressing for resolution.

As some but not all of the complaints appear to have been resolved the matter has been escalated by the OFT. 

The OFT, the regulator and Isle of Man Energy held a meeting on Monday.

Isle of Man Energy said that, while the billing issues have ‘essentially been resolved’, there is a backlog of complaints that needs to be cleared. The gas provider gave an assurance that the matter will be resolved in what the OFT considers to be a ‘timely manner’, i.e. a matter of a few weeks.

An OFT spokesman said: ‘The OFT made it clear to Isle of Man Energy that enforcement action will follow if this is not the case.’

It says gas consumers should raise any concerns about their bills with Isle of Man Energy in the first instance, however, in terms of response time they should bear in mind that there is a backlog of complaints.

Anyone who has already contacted Isle of Man Energy, is asked not to contact it again about the same issue, as its staff will need time to resolve the issue.

If they still have concerns after contacting Isle of Man Energy, then they should contact the OFT on 686500 or email [email protected] for further information and assistance.

The OFT will continue to work to resolve this matter as a priority.

John Wannenburgh MHK, chair of the OFT, said: ‘The OFT is fulfilling its role as the “consumer champion” and will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action should the billing issues persist beyond the next few weeks.’