Unite to end energy rip-offs

Energy costs may have come down slightly in the past few months, for some licensees at least. But for most people, the hike in utility bills over the past 12 to 18 months is still really hurting their bottom line. So getting the best possible supply deal is crucial if licensees are to protect their margins and earn the decent living they deserve.

Trouble is, getting the best deal is easier said than done. The complications of comparing suppliers are enormously challenging - all the more so when you're moving in to a new pub and having to make snap decisions about new suppliers based on incomplete information about the previous occupant and only a guess as to what your new requirements might be.

It's precisely because of this pressure and uncertainty that energy deals have become the operating territory of choice for small-time crooks. Ruthless muggers of small-business people, these unscrupulous scum who call themselves "agents" deliberately prey upon men and women who are too busy doing their job to have time to sort out bothersome paperwork.

A plausible manner, the promise of an attractive deal, and another contract is signed - bringing in a fat slug of commission for the agent from the new energy supplier. Only later, when the real details of the deal emerge, do the scales fall from the licensee's eyes and he realises he's signed up to an even worse deal.

It's a scummy business, but the misselling has sunk to an all-time low with our revelations this week that an agent doctored his recorded phone conversations with a licensee he was pitching to. The agent fabricated the taped message by using someone else's voice to "agree" to the deal. A clearer example of fraud is harder to imagine.

When something so brazenly outrageous occurs,

a whole industry is shamed. Unless the energy companies move to regulate agents, Government must act to give fresh fining powers to the industry's regulator Ofgem. At present, Ofgem is not charged with a watching brief over British industry, and although the body EnergyWatch does monitor abuses, it has no power to intervene.

Energy supply is a cut-throat business, but there is absolutely no excuse for these kinds of tactics. Pub companies could usefully add their voice to their licensees' calls for better regulation and an end to unscrupulous energy rip-offs.