Press Release
20th November 2002
Utility Mis-selling: MSP Calls
for Automatic Compensation
MSP for Greenock and
Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has used a Member’s Debate in the
Scottish Parliament to call for utility companies to
automatically compensate customers who fall victim to underhand
mis-selling by their agents.
Speaking in a debate he initiated on the issue, Mr McNeil said:
"Industry watchdog Energywatch is calling for the introduction of automatic minimum compensation payments for all cases of mis-selling and erroneous transfer.
"I back this measure. After all, if the energy companies are, as they say, in no mood to tolerate mis-selling and are driving it out of the industry, how could they possibly object? What better way to rebuild trust than by putting your money where your mouth is?"
Speaking after the debate, Mr McNeil said:
"As speaker after speaker made clear during tonight’s debate, it is high time that the utility companies took firm action to rebuild public trust and restore the tarnished image of their industry."
During the debate, Mr McNeil also said called on energy companies to "move away from using arm’s length agencies and towards accountable in-house sales teams" and condemned mis-selling as risking "undermining the Scottish Executive’s ground breaking policies on fuel poverty."
On the latter point, he elaborated:
"If we can’t trust them
on the doorstep and we can’t trust the on the phone, how can
we trust them on any energy efficiency advice they may give? How
can we trust any scheme – even those run by the Executive
– if companies who use sharp practices are involved?"
ENDS
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