Scottish & Southern Energy fined £1.25m for doorstep sales techniques

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/may/04/scottish-southern-energy-ruling

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Scottish & Southern Energy has been fined £1.25m for misleading doorstep sales practices following a landmark case that has put an end to similar tactics by five out of the six big energy firms.

The energy giant was fined at Guildford crown court after its appeal against prosecution a year ago was turned down. It is believed to be the biggest fine handed out by a court as a result of a trading standards prosecution.

Surrey Trading Standards brought the case to court three years ago after householders in Guildford told it representatives of the company were turning up on their doorsteps, claiming to have information showing they were paying too much with their supplier. In reality the company had no such information.

Scottish & Southern (now know as SSE) was found guilty last year, a result that has since led to British Gas, nPower, EDF and Scottish Power putting an end to own doorstep selling. Only EON still sells energy deals at the door.

"The judge called our case revolutionary," said Steve Playle, Surrey county council Trading Standards investigations and enforcement manager and a former consumer agony aunt at the Guardian.

"Although the fine will make just a small dent in SSE's huge profits, it sends out a clear message to the energy industry that deceptive, misleading and illegal sales tactics are not acceptable."

Consumer Focus, the statutory consumer champion for England, Wales and Scotland, said the case had dragged "the reputation of the energy industry further through the mud".

"We'd urge any customer who thinks they may have lost out after being mis-sold to by an SSE salesperson to contact the firm to seek compensation," said Audrey Gallacher, director of energy at Consumer Focus.

"We are also calling on EON, as the only major supplier left who has failed to stop cold-call doorstep sales, to end this distrusted sales practice immediately."

SSE said it would not contest the fine and its director of sales, marketing and energy service, Stephen Forbes, added in a statement: "We accept that a company of SSE's standing and with SSE's values should not have found itself in this position and we are very sorry that it did."

Earlier this year, EDF agreed to pay £4.5m back to its customers following an investigation by energy regulator Ofgem that found it had made misleading sales claims to customers.

Ofgem agreed that EDF could distribute £3.5m among its most vulnerable customers and give £1m to Citizen's Advice.

SSE could find itself subject to a further fine as Ofgem is continuing investigations into Scottish Power, SSE and nPower.