Investigation over energy mis-selling to be carried out

It has been revealed recently that four of the big six energy giants in the UK are at the centre of an investigation over the mis-selling of energy to UK consumers. The investigation is to be carried out by the UK energy regulator Ofgem, which said that it had received complaints and reports from various sources suggesting that the four energy companies may have breached regulations with regards to energy sales.

The four energy giants that are facing questioning from the regulator as part of the investigation are Npower, Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy, and EDF Energy. The investigation centres around sales made by the firms on both a face to face basis and over the telephone. It comes following new regulations that were brought in at the start of this year with regards to the sale of energy  contracts to consumers.

According to Ofgem more than 50 percent of energy customers that switched in 2008 did so after being contacted by an energy sales person, but in many cases the customers ended up on a more expensive tariff because they had been misled over their energy costs or had not been able to effectively compare costs against their existing tariffs.

The four energy giants have said that they will fully cooperate with Ofgem in the investigation, which will centre around whether they have breached the new regulations that were brought in at the start of this year. The new regulations required energy firms to ensure that estimates were given before any face to face contract were concluded and where possible comparisons were given to the consumer with regards to pricing compared to their existing provider.

Andrew Wright, of Ofgem, said: “We expect all suppliers to comply with these tougher obligations, but if our investigations find otherwise, we will take strong action.”

Tags: United Kingdom, energy customers, energy, regulator, energy regulator