Businesses slam 'exorbitant' energy contracts

Date: 12th March 2009

Small businesses have slammed energy providers for not informing them when their contracts are due to end.

A call to action from the Forum for Private Business (FPB) suggests that utilities companies often roll over contracts from year to year, without informing their customers.

As a result, small firms - including sole traders and partnerships - are left unable to change their provider when they find themselves overcharged for services such as gas and electricity.

The FPB's advisor on utilities, Colin Beake, said: "Most often, only a single letter is sent out and a non-response is taken as a business being complicit.

"Unless notice is given within the specified time to terminate these 'evergreen' contracts, utilities companies can just roll them over … sometimes at exorbitant prices."

A recent investigation by the FPB found that as many as three quarters of small firms had experienced problems with their energy providers.