British Gas is to pay £11.1m to charity to benefit vulnerable customers after an investigation by Ofgem found the company failed to meet its environmental obligations.

The destination of the £11.1m is subject to a five week consultation period, although one option under consideration is the British Gas Energy Trust, a charity that provides grants to help people who are struggling to pay their gas and energy bills. This is subject to approval from the charity's board.

Ofgem found that the company failed to meet its obligations under the Community Energy Savings Programme and Carbon Emissions Reduction Target by the 2012 deadline. As a result, 6,750 housesholds in low income areas experienced delays in receiving energy saving measures which would have helped keep homes warm and lower bills during the winter of 2013.

Ofgem also concluded that senior management did not take appropriate action to ensure it delivered energy efficiency measures on time.

Sarah Harrison, Ofgem’s senior partner with responsibility for enforcement, said: “British Gas’ failure to deliver two environmental obligations on time is unacceptable. Thousands of households had to wait for energy efficiency measures, like insulation, to be installed during the winter.”

Drax Power

Ofgem also recently fined power generation firm Drax Power £28m for failing to meet its environmental obligations, contributing to several thousand homes missing out on free energy efficiency measures. It is unclear at this time if that money will also be going to charity.