Millions of electricity customers seek a payout over cable cartel
MILLIONS of British households could receive compensation for being overcharged on their electricity bills after a rip-off scheme run by a “cartel” of cable companies.
A class action lawsuit worth hundreds of millions of pounds has been brought against Nexans, NKT and Prysmian after they were fined €302m (£258m) by the European Commission for conspiring to inflate the prices of cables they sold to energy giants such as National Grid between 1999 and 2009.
They were among 11 businesses that made up the cartel, which sold high voltage and submarine cables to buyers in Europe, Japan and Korea.
The prices paid for these cables could have been passed on to millions of British consumers if the buyers, typically infrastructure companies, passed on the cost through network charges that are included in energy bills.
National Grid and Scottish Power have each already struck settlement deals with Prysmian after accusing the Italian firm of overcharging them by
millions of pounds. But a legal claim filed with the UK’S Competition Appeal Tribunal is now also seeking compensation on behalf of British consumers.
It has been brought by the law firm Scott + Scott and is spearheaded by Clare Spottiswoode, a former energy regulator.
She said: “I hope this will send a warning sign to any corporates who might contemplate anti-competitive behaviour in future and will recover appropriate redress for consumers who lost money as a result.”
The case must be approved by the tribunal if it is to proceed.
It came as the boss of Ofgem, the energy regulator, yesterday said that the best way to bring down sky-high energy bills was to speed up the switch to green power sources.
Jonathan Brearley, the regulator’s chief executive, said he had been shocked by stories of the difficult choices some consumers are making between “heating and eating” after the Ukraine war sent electricity and gas prices shooting upward. He added that Ofgem and energy companies needed to do “everything within our power to help customers” with rising costs.