prices in line with the rest of the industry. In April 2008, Ofgem launched an investigation into allegations that Scottish Power abused their dominant market position relating to the electricity transmission network they own jointly in Scotland. Ofgem said it had launched its inquiry into Scottish Power and SSE under section 18 of the Competition Act, "based on a formal complaint alleging abuse of a dominant position in the electricity generation sector arising from constrained capacity on the transmission network." The energy regulator believes that energy generators manipulate the power market for profit when supplies are tight because network operator National Grid has to pay utilities to turn their plants on or off to balance supply and demand. This resulted in companies deliberately shutting their plants down when supplies are tight in order to receive a higher payment to start up again, increasing the system balancing costs at the expense of consumers. Ofgem was alarmed that the cost of balancing the system increased from £70 million in 2007/08 to an estimated £238 million for 2008/09 and an expected £258 million in 2009/10, with most of the costs incurred in Scotland. In January 2009, Ofgem suspended the investigation, saying it would be more effective to deal with the wider problem than pursuing the specific case further. In November 2012, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) publicly listed ScottishPower as one of a number of companies that it had concerns about due to unsolicited telephone calls for marketing. The concerns were based on complaints. In response, ScottishPower said that it was working with the ICO to address any issues. In early 2015, Scottish Power was temporarily banned from signing up new customers, due to long-standing and serious concerns regarding poor customer service, overdue bills and failure to implement rulings made by the Energy Ombudsman. The company's failings continued to be highlighted in the press later in the year, with complaints levels 20 times those of their best-performing competitor In April 2016, Scottish Power released a press release that an £18M agreement had been reached with OFGEM following their investigation into customer service standards. In 2017, Scottish Power created controversy when they pursued a couple for a £4,300 debt despite the couple not owing Scottish Power any money and, moreover, not being customers of the firm. Scottish Power ignored letters from the couple, instead sending bailiffs to the home of the couple. It later