Power companies accused of dirty tricks campaigns
The UK’s main energy suppliers have been accused of dirty tricks in preventing smaller companies from getting the best deal from their electricity supplier.
Electricity supplier Electricity4Business says small and medium-sized food and drink firms “are being taken for a ride” by the ‘big six’ energy suppliers. It says its guide will help firms see through their “dirty tricks campaigns”
Launching the web-based guide, Graham Paul, Electricity4Business sales and marketing director said: “Our e-book to seeing through the small print puts the power back in the hands of the customer. If companies are wise to the tricks they can expect from their electricity supplier, they can switch and slash their electricity bills at a stroke.”
Electricity4Business estimates that companies that take its advice and switch can save 40-70% off their business electricity bills.
One of the tricks employed by big suppliers, says Electricity4Business, is to put customers on “evergreen” fixed-price contracts that are automatically extended for months, or even years, unless customers act. And if customers fail to provide notice within a specified period, suppliers reserve the right to increase prices, even though the wholesale price of electricity goes down, it says.
“As a result, customers that signed up to a long-term contract in early 2006, when energy prices were at their peak, are often paying double or triple today’s market price for their electricity.”
The ‘Guide To Small Print’ is available free to download at http://www.electricity4business.co.uk.
>>See Food Manufacture ‘Beat the cost rises’, p 55
