The past two years have hit businesses across all industries, but none more so than those in the hospitality sector. Venues all over the UK have been fighting to survive after months of forced closures, uncertainty and reduced footfall. On top of this, the energy market has suffered its own fair share of chaos, with prices rising and suppliers going under. This has left many venues unsure of how their energy costs will be impacted, and whether they can even afford to pay them going forward.
This should be more than enough to contend with, yet hidden business energy commission is harming hospitality businesses when they are at their most vulnerable. Understanding this threat is the first step to avoiding it, and saving your venue from breaking point.
Covid closures, the energy crisis and a host of other challenges have created a culture of chaos and challenging trading conditions for hospitality venues. Sadly, energy brokers are taking advantage of this confusion and desperation to sneak hidden business energy commission into their contracts. Brokers are presenting venues with mis-sold energy contracts that are claiming to offer the best rates on the market when, in actual fact, they are deals that merely offer brokers the best commissions.
How this is possible? Commercial energy contracts – like those used by hotels and other venues – aren’t as tightly regulated as their domestic counterparts. This provides brokers with free rein to take fees from suppliers in exchange for recommending them to their clients, regardless of whether they provide the best deal. This commission often remains undisclosed, hidden in the contract amongst the energy costs themselves.
In short, venues across the UK are paying too much for their energy without even knowing it, and lining energy brokers’ back pockets in the process.
Of course, it isn’t just hospitality businesses that have suffered at the hands of unscrupulous deals. Claims management experts Winn Solicitors are one of the many organisations to have discovered inflated energy bills in recent years. As Winn Group CEO, Jeff Winn, explains,
“Like many businesses we believed that the energy brokers we worked with had our best interests in mind when negotiating contracts on our behalf. We believed we were being sold the most competitive contracts.
“However, the truth is that hidden within our contracts were inflated commissions and pricing that was not genuinely based on the wholesale rate of gas and electric.”
Winn continues: “As a result of our experience we are now committed to raising awareness and helping businesses understand that, if they have been mis-sold an energy contract, we can help them to recover compensation after being mis-sold a business energy contract.”
By offering support for mis-sold energy contracts on a no win, no fee basis, Winn Solicitors are now have removed the barriers to pursuing compensation for organisations around the UK. As such, seeking justice for mis-sold energy is now more accessible for venues across the country, at a time when public bodies, charities and businesses alike are spending £25 billion a year on their energy, according to energy regulator Ofgem.
Winns have revealed that their mis-sold energy contract claim will be in the region of 20% of energy costs. What’s more, the claims specialists have committed to helping organisation recoup between 10 and 20% of their energy spending. Winns are also on hand to help venues break out of their mis-sold contracts and move onto ethical, transparent contracts which are 100% green.