Thursday 12 July 2012

More concerns over supplier’s energy standards

Concerns over E.ON's proposals for energy sales standards have been growing this week as the director of an energy comparison site said any code of practice should apply to suppliers as well as brokers.

James Constant from Business Juice made the comment in an open letter to E.ON, Ofgem and Consumer Focus in which he said if businesses are to get the protection they need, the standards should not just be limited to energy brokers or Third Party Intermediaries (TPIs).

E.ON claims its new TPI Code of Practice will protect small UK businesses by facilitating the contract between them and the suppliers.

Although Mr Constant welcomed the initiative, he said a common standard is essential for fair market operation: “E.ON’s current structure and the Code of Practice itself only focuses on TPIs and we strongly feel this would be a missed opportunity for the whole industry to take control of longstanding issues with regards mis-selling, customer trust and engagement.

“It is therefore essential that the Code of Practice is equally applicable to all sales and marketing channels, be they directly employed by a supplier, working on behalf of a supplier or working on behalf of the customer.”