Daniel Křetínský-owned power plant must pay £23m for charging excessive payments

Regulator found Czech tycoon’s South Humber Bank hiked prices when operator was likely to pay plants to stop generating power

• Business live – latest updates

The power company owned by the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský has been ordered to pay £23m after the energy watchdog found that it unfairly demanded excessive payments for one of the UK’s biggest power stations, hiking customers’ energy bills.

Ofgem ruled that the company’s energy traders violated market rules by demanding a higher price to turn down the South Humber Bank gas plant in Lincolnshire to earn excessive payments from the energy system operator, heaping higher prices on to consumers.