Fines on executives of energy supplier EnergieFlex

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has imposed fines of 63,000 euros each on two executives of EnergieFlex, which is the business name of Flexenergie BV, which went bankrupt several months ago. EnergieFlex wrongfully charged disconnection fees to several hundreds of customers who cancelled their prepaid, rollover energy contracts. The fined executives presided over these actions.

Wrongful disconnection fees, and insufficient data about the end dates of contracts

EnergieFlex charged disconnection fees to customers with prepaid, rollover energy contracts, which is something that is prohibited. Customers who wanted to switch energy suppliers thus incurred costs. And it also harms consumer confidence in the energy market itself. In addition, EnergieFlex put insufficient effort in making sure that the data about the end dates of energy contracts were available, thereby preventing other suppliers from being able to see when the fixed-term contracts were due to expire. As a result, EnergieFlex’s customers were possibly transferred to their new suppliers too soon, resulting in unnecessary early-termination fees.

Fines have been lowered

The fines on the two ‘de facto executives’ of EnergieFlex have been lowered by 10 percent, because they acknowledged their violation, and accepted the fines. This made it easier to handle the case. A fine of 500 euros was imposed on Flexenergie BV. This fine is so low because the company is already bankrupt.

See also

25-4-2019 ACM imposes fines on EnergieFlex and its executives (in Dutch)