SSE insists ‘lessons have been learned’ from sales tactics incident

Big six energy supplier SSE has insisted “lessons have been learned”, and appropriate actions have been taken to ensure its sales training practices are not encouraging “scare tactics”, after the Mail on Sunday accused it of misinforming customers.

Earlier this month, the newspaper said SSE was “using scare tactics and misinformation to lure back customers who want to switch to cheaper rivals”, after it sent an undercover reporter to the supplier’s call centre in Cardiff.

In a letter to the Energy and Climate Change committee, SSE managing director for retail Will Morris said: “I would like to assure you that we take the allegations made by the Mail on Sunday extremely seriously; as soon as they were highlighted to us we took immediate action, launching an independent internal investigation and suspending our dealings with Pareto Law.”

He confirmed that SSE would not re-engage recruitment company Pareto Law.

The committee had previously written to SSE saying it was “alarmed by allegations of misleading sales tactics”, and requesting a timetable for the company’s internal investigation.

SSE said that, following the internal investigation, “we will be conducting an in-depth lessons learned exercise to establish how we could further enhance the training and support provided to our staff and ensure increased oversight over external trainers in future”.

On 7 May, the Mail on Sunday reported that an undercover investigation found “sharp practices” were being used by the supplier to keep householders on its higher rates.

An instructor was secretly filmed telling staff to “exaggerate the fear” about changing suppliers, despite suggesting himself that SSE’s prices were “uncompetitive”.

At the time, Ofgem said it was “very concerned by these serious allegations” and said it would conduct a thorough review of the evidence provided by the Mail on Sunday.

“Energy suppliers have a duty to treat customers fairly when selling energy,” it said. “Ofgem has taken strong action against companies that have failed customers and has imposed penalties of more than £200 million on companies since 2010.”

Following the incident, the committee contacted all other large energy suppliers to ask about their sales training practices.

It asked whether the official training provided to companies’ sales staff recommend: induce fear in customers who are considering switching to a rival; omit disclosure of exit fees; or encourage customers to install pre-payment meters without disclosing the potential risks.