IF YOU HAVE USED AN ENERGY BROKER IN THE PAST TO ARRANGE YOUR GAS AND/OR ELECTRICITY THEN STATISTICS SHOW THAT 60% OF THOSE DEALS HAD A HIDDEN COMMISSION.
As a client of Smooth Commercial Law, we thought you may be interested in an update on the work we are doing for businesses on overcharged energy bills.
As a law firm we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of the legal battlegrounds we partake in, and our claims against energy companies and brokers are no different.
Business Energy Commission claims are easily described as the PPI for businesses. Many will remember the mis-selling scandal of Payment Protection Insurance which resulted, eventually, in banks repaying billions to consumers.
Business Energy Broking Commissions have been earned by unregulated intermediaries for years and the levels of profit they have generated are now coming sharply into focus with the rising costs of energy overall.
There has been little motivation for bad-faith brokers to offer the best energy deals. They often promote deals which are driven by commissions they earn, and not on the deal best suited to their clients. These commissions are hidden in the cost of the energy to the end user, and therefore increase the amounts paid.
THE LAW IS CLEAR. IF A COMMISSION IS EARNED THEN THE PROCESS HAS TO BE TRANSPARENT AND THE CUSTOMER MUST HAVE THE COMMISSION DISCLOSED TO THEM OR AS NEAR AS POSSIBLE THE SUM TO BE EARNED AND GIVE THEIR INFORMED CONSENT BEFORE IT IS RETAINED.
Smooth Commercial Law has been active in pursuing refunds of the hidden commissions earned. They have a client base of hundreds of businesses from large to small (and interestingly each client may have more than one claim) and the scale of the mis-selling discovered is only just becoming apparent.
It’s also a huge positive in these cases that recent legal rulings mean that both the energy broker and the energy provider are jointly liable. Practically this means that if the broker you bought your energy from is no longer trading, then the ultimate energy provider, and we’re talking some big companies here with billions of £’s worth of assets, are jointly liable.
At present, the position of brokers and energy suppliers has been to deny any wrongdoing or to make no comment at all. Interestingly though we are seeing more and more responses from energy companies and brokers through legal representatives, which indicates to us, as with the banking scandals, that we are starting to worry them.
Smooth Commercial Law will be one of the first law firms in the country to issue claims in the courts against energy companies. We are in this position as we have worked tirelessly in pursuing these companies to first admit they did pay and receive commissions, and secondly how much commission they actually paid and received. We are using this information to pursue these companies through the courts for the funds rightfully due back to our clients. This will bring the energy brokers and energy companies to the table, and may well act as a tipping point to encourage the settlement of these claims.
We offer our services on a no win, no fee basis, which means if we can’t recover a settlement you pay us nothing.
If we win then we agree to deduct our fees as a percentage of the settlement we get you back, not on the amount of work that we’ve carried out.
It will cost you nothing for us to review and obtain information from your energy brokers, and you may well be unpleasantly surprised at how much hidden commission you have been paying.
Get in touch with us if you would like to know more about how we could help you and your business.
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