Frequently asked questions?

A TPI is the acronym for ‘Third Party Intermediary’ – also known as energy brokers or energy consultants.

Simply provide us with some details of the contracts that the broker(s) put in place for you, sign a letter of authority allowing us to engage with the broker(s) and supplier(s) and we will do the rest. We will write to the broker & suppliers to ascertain the value of your claim, and let you decide if you wish to launch a claim.In the event a claim is started, you will be required to co-operate with the solicitor at all times so that we can achieve a successful outcome. We will try to keep your involvement to as little as possible, and will use our expertise to gather all evidence with little to no interruption to yourself, although sometimes we will require your help.

Claims can be settled as quickly a few weeks. However we do advise against setteling early in some instances where we think we can get your a higher payout. In that case we would advise against settling out of court.

In some ways it is similar to PPI for the consumer market. This is for the non-domestic energy market and relates to gas and electricity bills only.

We will complete the initial enquiries into your claim on a no obligation basis and at no cost to you. Once we have established whether you have a claim, to proceed you will need to sign an agreement setting out our Terms & Conditions, this will set out clearly our fees upon achieving a successful outcome.

We take the case on in anticipation of a successful outcome, some people call these types of agreements “no-win, no-fee agreements”.

In the event your claim is successful we will deduct our fee (set out clearly and explained to you in full when you begin your claim) from the compensation awarded.

Many clients have a good relationship with their energy broker and this is understandable as you put your trust in them to get you a good deal for your energy. Often where this trust has been built up it results in the larger claims because brokers can take advantage of the trust you place in them.

Typically speaking not really, but some things that may happen are that the broker may take their commissions out of the deal leaving you with a lower rate, or they may offer to cancel the contract, we will always ask your permission to have any such changes applied.

No, we are not an energy broker, we do not sell energy contracts.

There are no figures on the scale of mis-selling in the industry, and certainly there are brokers who correctly review the market and describe the options accurately whilst demonstrating transparency over their fees with their clients. However, if your broker did not disclose to you how much they earned at the very least, they have not demonstrated transparency and you could have a claim.

There are many ethical and transparent brokers in the market and not all are mis-selling or hiding their fees. However, our experience is that the vast majority of cases involve at least one area of mis-selling.

Some brokers really do add value added services for your benefit, that’s good. However, if you don’t know with certainty how much you are being charged, you can’t make an informed decision about the additional services you may be receiving.

Unfortunately, the supplier will probably not disclose this as the supplier and broker have an arrangement whereby the supplier must leave it to the broker to answer questions about commissions, we think this is wrong. It is also true that some suppliers rely heavily on the introductions they get from some brokers.

You could, but if there’s no check in place to ensure you are told not just the truth, but given all the information you need to make an informed decision, then you can’t guarantee you are have information that is both correct and complete. We have experience of brokers giving both incomplete information and even actively misleading clients.

There is a small chance you may have to. Only a small number of cases proceed all the way to court but if this happens, your solicitor will be there every step of the way to guide you.