Some of the poorest people in Britain, who don't have bank accounts, and are thus not good credit risks, have to buy gas and electricity via pre-paid meters. This is calculated to cost them an average of £80 per year more than the rest of us who have other payment methods. That is itself a scandal. Today it has been exposed that 1.5million households (and unknown number of household members) using gas pre-payment meters have been overpaying for readings from faulty meters and that this has been going on since 2007. The gas companies think the average amount they have overcharged is £6.5 per year since 2007. So that is £6.5 x 7 years x 1.5 million households. Check my arithmetic, but I reckon this is just short of £70 million stolen from the poorest of our citizens by the gas companies.
Apologies will be issues by gas companies to be followed, at some point, by refunds.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30214471