Energy suppliers are tightening up their procedures to ensure that energy account information is only shared with people who have authority. So for energy brokers, this is where a Letter of Authority (LOA) comes in.

Brokers will ask a customer to sign an LOA that grants them permission to access consumption data, receive copy invoices etc. However, some LOAs give the broker permission to agree contracts on their client’s behalf. This is something we would never do without you being fully aware of what this means. We always speak to our customers before changing or progressing anything with their contract. Make sure you think long and hard about signing an LOA with this clause included, as it means that you lose control and you might find yourself in a similar situation as the customers mentioned below. Check out an example of our LOA. 

Another thing to bear in mind is that if you have multiple energy supplies your LOA should specify the particular supplies it applies to. You don’t have to include every supply in the letter, especially if it isn’t relevant for the job in hand.

Every day we see examples of what can, at best, be described as dishonest dealings:

‘Please sign this LOA - your energy supplier has asked for it. It’s just a formality, nothing important’

We have a client that is still paying for overpriced electricity on a 3-year contract that he didn’t know he had signed up to through the actions of his previous broker.

‘I’ve been with my current broker for years; he’s such a nice chap’

Only today I spoke to somebody who asked me to check out a gas contract offered to them by their (now previous) broker. It took all of 10 seconds for me to smell a rat; the transport costs for the gas were sky high. Even the gas supplier ultimately acknowledged to me that the commissions were ‘heavy’.

Call 024 7669 6512 and talk to us, an energy broker you know you can trust.