Businesses urged to be on their guard as energy scam costs Dairy Farmer £1,000’s

Energy broker voices concern over big increase in energy contract scams across the rural business sector.

Steve Pilling from Nobull Energy explains, “We’re seeing a big increase in much slicker and believable energy contract scams, one local dairy farmer’s energy bill doubled earlier this year, an increase of over £27,000.00 over the contract duration. The customer had no knowledge of even agreeing to a new contract.  It turns out this wasn’t just a cold call but a sophisticated scam, it appears that he received a call from somebody saying they were from his energy supplier, they then obtained his email to send a convincing email to gain his trust. Apparently, somebody did attend to look at his meter but all the farmer could remember was being asked to sign something and provide bank details so if there is a refund they can make the payment.  The last bit is not yet proven

“The energy supplier has accepted this as fraudulent, but it’s certainly been a challenging case, would you believe that nobody has been prosecuted, and I am worried more businesses will be hit and not know how to challenge such scams”

• Steve continues “Prevention is always better than cure. These scams are incredibly frustrating and can be financially crippling. We hope by sharing how these scammers work we can prevent this happening to anyone else’s business.” Remember the old saying: ‘If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!’

What to look out for:

• If your ‘energy supplier’ calls you, ask them what they want but don’t give them any information and tell them you will call them back, don’t use the number they give you’

Use the number that is printed on your energy bill. The same advice applies to emails.

• If you have a trusted relationship with your energy broker, reach out to them for
• Check if your business address and contact details are publicly listed (Yell.com, etc) Do youneed your phone number made public? If not get it removed, you’ll stop so many junk/spam/ cold calls.

If you feel you have been scammed or miss-sold a business energy contract, first speak with your energy supplier.