Energy claims

KeithW2410

Hi. I have been called by a company saying that the broker that contacted me to renew my utility bills may not have made me aware of the secret commission thats built into the contract and they want to investigate which may lead to a claim of which they will take 50%.  I suppose its the same a companies that sorted PPI out but I wondered if anyone had come across this before?

[Deleted User]

Are you talking about a domestic or business energy supply? 

KeithW2410

Its actually business but they may contact domestic consumers too?

[Deleted User]

KeithW2410 said:

Its actually business but they may contact domestic consumers too?

How so? If a salesman offers me a fixed term energy contract at, say, 13/p per kWh and 20p a day standing charge for electricity and I can see from price comparison websites that it is one of the cheapest tariffs on the market why would I care whether the salesman is getting £50 or £150 commission? No one is adding the commission paid to a third-party directly to my contract. I do not see how you can equate commission, or even cashback, to PPI. PPI was selling something to people which they didn’t need.

Robin9

KeithW2410 said:

Hi. I have been called by a company saying that the broker that contacted me to renew my utility bills may not have made me aware of the secret commission thats built into the contract and they want to investigate which may lead to a claim of which they will take 50%.  I suppose its the same a companies that sorted PPI out but I wondered if anyone had come across this before?

It's no secret - you are using a broker and they take a commission.  None of the business tariffs are published so you don't know if they are taking the suppliers 15p and charging you 20p.   Very similar to buying anything in a shop.

UnclaimedEnergy

For domestic, you don't really have any broker fees if you're just moving 1 house. 
Comparison sites take a commission if you switch through them, but the supplier pays for this.

For Non-domestic, you would choose to use a broker if you either don't have time to compare yourself, or don't know how best to compare and make a saving.

Brokers will normally take a fee for this service which is then put into the business rates you're signed up on. However the broker fee shouldn't be a massive part of your bill, so I'm not sure where the '50%' would come from.

I would say, do the research yourself if you're concerned and don't rely on another company to do it for you.

This article might refer to what you're on about a bit: https://theenergyst.com/ofgem-sets-out-plans-to-protect-small-businesses-but-stops-short-of-regulating-brokers/