Squeaky Clean Energy is committed to doing the ‘right thing’ for all our stakeholders and in particular you. We understand that buying energy can be a difficult and time consuming process and that many businesses need help and advice so they use a broker, or Third Party Intermediary (TPI).
Sadly, some TPI’s aren’t always ‘Squeaky Clean’, and they operate in a manner which isn’t always in the best interest of customers and suppliers. Squeaky won’t work with brokers that operate in this way and will only work with those that have signed up to our code of conduct, which is outlined below.
The Squeaky Clean Code of Conduct
This code of conduct ensures that you are going to be treated in an honest and professional manner and charged a fair and transparent fee for the work that is undertaken on your behalf.
Fees
The TPI agrees that they must always charge the same fee across all suppliers that are included in any tender that they run for a buyer. They must not favour any supplier who offers to pay them a higher fee.
The TPI must declare all commissions paid by the supplier if requested by you.
Staff Training and Sales
The TPI must demonstrate that their staff have gone through a robust recruitment and training process.
Any sales material will be written clearly and be honest and accurate.
The TPI agrees to not use misleading sales tactics, or exploit a person’s inexperience and will treat all clients with sensitivity and respect.
The TPI won’t use high-pressure sales techniques or mislead you into doing anything until you are 100% ready and confident to do so.
Relevant laws and regulations
As well as this code, the TPI will adhere to Supply License Condition 7a, Ofgem’s Standards of conduct, Data protection Act, AUDDIS, Business Protection Regulations and Employment law.
The TPI will always have authority to deal with your data, either via a signed letter of authority or recorded verbal agreement in place with you.
Energy supplier’s contracts
Before you sign anything with an energy supplier, the TPI will make sure you understand what you’re signing and the implications of signing it. The same applies to verbally agreeing to a contract over the phone.
The TPI will be responsible for the correct use any Change of Tenancy (COT) by their staff.
If the contract is rejected; if there is any issue with the new contract, we’ll let you know straight away and work with you to resolve the issue.
We hope that complaints never happen, but if you do wish to raise any issues, the TPI will have a simple and effective system for handling complaints.
At least once a year we will undergo a full audit to make sure the TPI are adhering to the code.
Breaches and sanctions
If a TPI fails to comply with the code of conduct, it will be treated as a breach. In minor cases, such as administrative mistakes, written warnings will be issued with improvement notices for additional controls.
If systematic, or major breaches are discovered the TPI could be banned from receiving prices or entering into supply contracts via Squeaky, or in the worst cases be reported to the authorities.