I think they're doing a follow up piece on it which may be in tomorrow's mail but I'm not 100% certain to be honest!

You have had your wish Surfer as regards to it making a national newspaper. It was in the Mail last Sunday. You can view the article online by going to dailymail.co.uk and search fir the article entitled, 'power price rogues.' In the article which was printed in the paper last week there was more pictures including one of the MD of BES, Commercial Energy and all his other offspring companies. Total disgrace.

Rod Sinden at the UIA is very interested in hearing from you regarding this matter as he's already in the middle of a campaign to bring down BES and their offspring companies which include commercial energy. Their contact number is 01622 738968 and I've already mentioned your case to him.

Just shows what a total rag tag set up the whole company (BES and it's off spring groups including commercial energy) is and badly needs to have it's energy licences revoked. Have you been to the UIA with this matter as I'm sure the head of that organisation would love to add your story to the long list of other complaints including mine he's got against this company. They're currently in the process of taking this pathetic bunch of crooks to task and the more ammo they've got the better. I've even got my local MP involved who is going to meet with the guy from the UIA in London to hopefully put a case together and put pressure on the useless muppets at Offgem to do their job properly and sort this pest of a company out. If you would like to PM me I'll be happy to give you the UIA contact details.

I got another call from commercial registrations today asking for the person who is responsible for the energy so something is going on. He also said that commercial registrations and commercial energy are one and the same but commercial registrations is based in Manchester while commercial energy is registered in London as far as I know so maybe commercial power are going under the guise of commercial energy which is probably illegal. The UIA are now fighting on my behalf but just in case I am preparing a tenancy agreement as a fall back.

No BES are definately a supplier now and commercial energy are their agents even though they claim to be impartial. Nottslad what's your latest take on all this?

When I spoke to consumer direct last they told me to ask BES for a deadlock letter to take to the ombudsman so this whole thing is getting a bit confusing now. I will try calling EDF again tomorrow to see what they have to say but on what grounds do I ask them to raise an ET? Is it the fact that commercial energy told me they are impartial when really they act on behalf of BES, the fact they never asked if we are a micro business and since the contract was brokered - 4 weeks ago - we still have no hard copy of the terms and conditions which should have been sent to us within 10 days. I don't suppose it would be worth just writing to BES and ask to be released from the contract on grounds of not being happy about the way the contract was brokered and the rates being too high for a small and new business like ours which in turn could cause us to struggle. This is probably a long shot but I found this article on complaints about small energy companies on the Daily Telegraph online. This is a quote from their general manager which my make you laugh, "Phil Brown, general manager at Blackpool-based BES, also defended the company's policy, saying that the company had received "hardly any complaints at all" from its 3,000 customers. "We have it in our terms and conditions but we are very understanding of people coming to us saying can you release me because of x, y and z. We are not a shark company. We don't need to employ those sort of tactics and we don't," he said." If they are that understanding they may be prepared to release us from the contract especially if I add that I will go to the ombudsman if needs be. I'm still thinking that sub-letting the business to my wife's close friend who works several shifts for us anyway, and then terminating the sub lease once the energy supplier has changed is going to be the quickest way out of this anyway.

Thanks for your help Surfer. Yes I contacted the original supplier EDF withing 24hrs of getting the letter from BES and they weren't very helpful TBH even after I had explained the situation. They advised me to contact BES and try to raise an erroneous transfer which I did but BES were having none of it as you would expect from the crafty slimeballs. What do you make of commercial energy phoning me again yesterday claiming there was no electrcity contract in place on the premesis? That seems a bit strange to me. It may just be quicker and easier to try the route of sub-letting the premesis to a friend or even my wife in her maiden name and previous address who would then be free to chose another supplier. Are there any potential pitfalls with this method though?

Well I got them to send me a copy of the contract phone call and just listened to it. They did get me to agree to the contract but that was on the 2nd call. They didn't include the earlier call when they claimed BES was the cheaper option or the call straight after where I told them not to go ahead with it which they agreed not do. There was also a bit sneaked in where he claimed BES may not be the cheapest out there but was far better for my business which actually came from the later call. They also claimed to be impartial which we all know is carp and he said some other speil deliberately so fast it's not understandable. There was no attempt to find out if we are a micro business or not and there was no stating of terms and conditions. Under offgem rules I am under the impression that as a micro business THEY have to asertain whether we are a micro business or not and also have to provide us with a hard copy of the terms and conditions within 10 days and 4 weeks later we still have nothing. The odd thing is I've had a few calls from commercial energy over the last 2 days claiming there is no nominated contract for the electricity for my premesis and wanting to negotiate one. BES are due to take over the supply on mon 7th June so I don't know what they are playing at however I did speak to an independent energy advice service and told them I was considering selling the business to my mate so maybe they've already logged it on the system as a change of business. When I called this advice service this afternoon to said that according to their system BES were still due to go live with my supply on monday so I'm not sure what's going on. What they did say however was that if I change the tenancy into a mates name any current contract will become null and void. That person can then negotiate a contract of their choice although BES will probably object which can then be overcome by submitting a copy of a change of tenancy agreement. Under the circumstances I think this may be the best way forward unless anyone else has better advice.

So what you're saying surfer is that I may have to show them a copy of some sort of contract stating I am no longer running the business and therefor not the person responsible for the energy contracts? I own the lease on the property but surely I wouldn't have to assign the lease to someone else. Just a copy of a tenancy agreement stating that I am letting the business out to someone else would be sufficient would it not? I'm still half tempted to go down the ombudsman route but if the decision went against me I'd be stuck with these b******s and their extortionate rates for 3 years.

I'm in 2 minds at the minute about which road to go down as I don't have much faith in the ombudsman system and the contract I got scammed into is a 3 year one not 12 months which is a total nightmare. If I go down the official route and the ombudsman rules in favour of them and then I suddenly sell the business they will smell a rat and object to a change of supplier which could then lead to another complicated battle with them. Could they demand to see official papers for the sale of the business etc or don't they have those kind of rights? I really can't believe how easy it is to get stitched up with commercial contracts. The whole system is a total disgrace TBH. I was hoping someone on here preferably with legal knowledge could give me some sound off the record advice.

The business is a partnership between me and my wife but the supposed energy contract is in my name only. My wife has dual nationality and still has a passport and bank account in her maiden name. It may be worth a try her taking out an energy contract in her maiden name and saying she is the new owner of the business.

Thanks for the replies guys. I've been told by another independent advisor that if the business were to change hands or even name then any current contract would automatically become null and void and any new owner or person responsible would be able to chose a new supplier. I may draw up a contract where my best mate takes over the business and asks for a new supplier if you know what I mean but I don't trust BES to not object to the change of supplier or even ask of proof of change of ownership. This can easily be whipped by downloading a standard document from the law society website. I know it seems like a great length to go to but I don't care how far I have to go to stop these scoundrels getting their hands on my family money.

Hi all, me and the wife recently (3 weeks ago) opened a small convenience shop and unfortunately have been spoofed into an electricity contract with a small energy company. Within an hour of opening the doors at 8am the shop phone was ringing every 10 minutes with some cheeky swines from a company calling themselves commercial registrations. Despite me telling them we didn’t need their help and to stop calling they kept on and on ringing and telling us we needed to register with an energy supplier as we were on emergency rates and paying extortionate amounts. After a couple of hours and 9 or 10 phone calls harassing us I reluctantly agreed to listen to what they had to offer just to get rid of them if nothing else. They claimed to be a completely independent broker and quoted me some extremely high rates and then turned round and said ‘but there is a cheaper option’ and went into a load of spiel about how this company (BES) were the cheapest in our area and the best option for a business like ours. Against my better judgement I agreed in principle to this contract but when the guy said he needed my bank details for the direct debit before he could push it through I told him to call back in half an hour so I could dig them out. After I put the phone down on him I called a couple of the major companies including Eon and British Gas who knew all about Commercial Registrations and described them as a disgrace. The guy from British Gas also described the rates I was quoted as daylight robbery and told me their own rates which were significantly cheaper. When the guy from commercial phoned back I told him I wasn’t interested in a contract with BES as it was not the cheapest nd not best for us at all. He then started to backtrack and told me ‘they may not be the cheapest on the market but’ and gave me more tosh about how good they were. After having to go through a chat with his supervisor that I didn’t want who also pleaded their case I told them in no uncertain terms that I didn’t want to take the contract and they agreed not to pursue it. However, 2 weeks later I got a letter from BES informing me they are taking over our electricity supply on 7th June and I am absolutely fuming. I had agreed a contract with Eon later on the opening day and when I called Eon to ask what had happened they informed me that BES had nipped in first and objected to their approach. When I called BES to tell them I didn’t want their contract they informed me that they had a recording of me agreeing to the contract and said the advisor even informed me that they weren’t the cheapest on the market – which happened during the later call – but I still agreed to it. Obviously the crafty toe rags had edited the calls together to make it sound convincing. BES also claim that a company called Commercial Energy sold me the contract which is also a bit fishy and when I called the customer service number at Commercial Energy and did some digging they admitted to working on behalf of BES. Basically, these are going to cost me an extra £300+ per year in electricity charges and in a small family business like ours that’s alot of money. That’s £300 a year I should be spending on my family which instead is going to these sharks unless I can find a way out of it. According to Consumer Direct they are already in breach of Offgem legislation by firstly, not establishing that we are a micro business and secondly, not making sure we had a hard copy of the terms and conditions within 10 days of the contract being agreed. Apparently I need to raise these points with BES and ask for a deadlock letter to take to the Energy Ombudsman. To be quite honest from what I’ve read I don’t have much faith in the fairness of the whole system so need to find out if there’s another way round it all like technically selling the business or even just changing the name as I’ve been told that in those circumstances any contracts are automatically ‘null and void.’ I’d be extremely grateful if anyone could shed any light on this issue or give me some other sound advice. Regards, Richie.