BRITISH Gas was ordered to pay more than £11 million to charity yesterday as it was punished by Ofgem for failing to deliver energy efficiency measures on time.

The regulator said British Gas delivered little over half of its Community Energy Saving Programme by the required deadline at the end of 2012.

This left thousands of households, including around 6,750 homes in low income areas, waiting for energy efficiency measures, such as insulation, to be installed during the winter.

Ofgem and British Gas, which blamed bad weather as one of the factors behind the delay, said the £11.1m penalty will be used to help vulnerable customers through energy efficiency advice and improvements.

The fine also covers the company's failure to deliver its obligation under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, which requires firms to achieve targets for reducing carbon emissions within domestic properties. British Gas met 99 per cent of that obligation.

"British Gas's failure to deliver two environmental obligations on time is unacceptable," said Ofgem partner Sarah Harrison.

"Thousands of households had to wait for energy efficiency measures like insulation to be installed during the winter."