An energy broker has been forced to repay over £25,000 to a chocolatier after a significant amount of undisclosed fees were discovered in its contracts.
Business Energy Claims, the UK’s leading organisation in tackling energy broker mis-selling, looked into two electricity contracts which had been supplied to The Cocoabean Company by Npower in 2018.
They went on to win back more than £25,500 on the company’s behalf.
Business Energy Claims has already helped hundreds of companies recover sums ranging from £2,000 to £1.8 million after discovering a significant amount of hidden fees, unstated commissions, and overcharging.
Brokers assist businesses by offering them gas and electricity contracts from energy suppliers, and Business Energy Claims has found that a large percentage of them have made misleading statements about how they are paid and why they have recommended certain deals or suppliers.
Over 90% of the companies spoken to by Business Energy Claims had been unaware that they have been misled and therefore entitled to make a claim for potentially thousands of pounds.
The Cocoabean Company is one of hundreds of companies to have benefited from their help.
Callum Thompson, Director at Business Energy Claims, said: “When The Cocoabean Company approached us to look into their energy contracts to see if they had been mis-sold to, we identified that there was a significant amount of undisclosed fees included in their bills, which occupied a significant proportion of their overall energy spend.
“Our ambition is to legitimise the business energy market so that brokers are more transparent in selling energy contracts to businesses.
“This is a multi-billion-pound issue for UK businesses, and we are pleased to be able to assist in recovering such substantial sums.
“We would welcome any business who has used an energy broker or consultant to contact us.
“If their fees were not disclosed to them, they may have a potential claim and could recover these sums.
“We look forward to helping many more businesses like The Cocoabean Company in the future.”
Emma Turley, Marketing Consultant at The Cocoabean Company, said: “When we suspected that we may have been paying more than we should for our energy, we found Business Energy Claims and made an enquiry with them to see if they could assist.
“It was quickly identified by them that we had a claim, and we were surprised at the sums that were involved.
“The team there were very helpful and walked us through the process, and of course we are delighted to have recovered £25,500, which will help us a lot, particularly in the current financial climate.”
