A BRITISH ENERGY company has apologised for sending socks as presents to customers as a way to help them keep warm ahead of a massive spike in energy prices.
E.ON shipped a free pair of polyester socks to 30,000 households it supplies with energy, the Daily Mail reported
The customers had reportedly engaged with one of E.ON’s energy saving campaigns last year and the socks were there to encourage them to continue to save energy.
But E.ON said it should not have gone ahead with the plan in light of major price rises that are about to hit millions of households.
“If you recently received a pair of socks from us, we would like to say we are incredibly sorry for how we have made some people feel,” the company said.
“In light of the seriousness of current challenges that many people are facing, this mailing should have been stopped and we are sorry.”
The apology comes just days after rival energy firm Ovo said it sorry for giving customers advice on how to save energy.
In an email to customers, Ovo dished out advice like putting on a jumper, but also more uncommon remedies such as eating lentils or ginger or cuddling up to pets.
The British Government has just a few weeks before Ofgem, the state energy regulator, announces its new price cap.
Experts expect that the price of energy will soar by more than 50% to around £2,000 for the average household.
It could cost families across the country £700 at a time when prices are also going up in shops.
Ofgem will set the new price cap in early February before it comes into force on April 1.
The Government and energy companies have been in talks to decide how to offset the price hike.
Many are advocating a cut to VAT but that will save households less than £100 each.
Some energy companies want the UK Government to back loans worth £20 billion, arguing this will let the sector smooth the price hike so it does not hit customers all at once.
Another suggestion is to increase the amount that is available for people under Britain’s Warm Home Discount Scheme, and expand eligibility.
Meanwhile, a one-off €100 electricity credit will apply to every household’s first electricity bill of the new year, according to government plans announced here in December.
The government expects this to cover the first two months of the year.
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said the government are reviewing a range of options put forward by the European Union, which will assist families and households with the high cost of energy.
“These are currently under consideration. We would certainly like to do something to help with electricity bills and perhaps also gas bills,” he said.
“We hope to be in a position to make a decision on that in the near future so that people will see the effects of that decision in the bills they receive being a little bit lower than expected in the new year,” he said.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) reported in December that Irish consumer prices were 5.3% higher in November than November of 2020 — the largest annual change in prices since 2001.
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