Electricity customers who have favorable fixed rate agreements with Agva Kraft are forced to enter into a record high spot market. – Unlawful dismissal, says Consumer Council.
On Thursday, E24 wrote about electric company Agva Kraft, which is losing a lot on the fixed rate agreements it used to acquire new customers this summer.
Today’s record high spot price level close to NOK 1.3 per kWh means an average profit of NOK 1,213 per month for each customer who signs up – and a corresponding loss for Agva Kraft.
Ahead of the weekend, several fixed-rate clients received written notice from the company that they would be “moved to a preferred spot rate agreement” from November 1, because a “routine review showed they had an agreement that could only be used by new clients.”
The Consumer Council confirms to E24 that they have already received inquiries from 20 Agva customers in this case.
– Several consumers have entered into an affordable fixed price agreement with Agva. These agreements are binding, and Agva cannot terminate consumers’ employment while the fixed-price agreement is in operation, says senior advisor Thomas Iversen at the Consumer Council for E24.
– He adds that changing the terms of a fixed-rate agreement is very favorable because the price of electricity is rising, it hurts trust between consumers and electricity selling companies.
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E24 has seen documentation from several affected customers that they have received written confirmation from Agva Kraft of identifying a “new” customer in relation to the campaign, i.e. someone who has not been a customer in the past 12 months.
However, a significant number of them were excluded from their agreements – despite the fact that they had not been customers of the company for several years prior to the order.
Others claim to E24 that they were fired even if they were Start He was a customer of the company before.
Agva indicates that consumers received introductory offers that apply only to consumers who have not been a customer in the past 12 months. However, consumers who contact us point out that this is not true, which makes the separation unfair, Iversen says.
Agva becomes a victim-specific pricing strategy. It’s not the consumers who pay for it.
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He stresses that Agfa Kraft must already at the conclusion of the agreement verify whether consumers meet the conditions associated with the agreement.
As the professional party, Agfa must react quickly if it turns out that individual consumers are not eligible for the agreement anyway, Iversen says.
Since Agfa Craft began in 2015, the Consumer Council has recorded a total of 92 consumer inquiries about the company.
– This is high compared to other and larger electricity sales companies. Among other things, there are two more inquiries from Hafslund, which is one of the largest electricity sales companies in Norway, says Iversen.
indicates agreement
“Promotions will not normally be available to previous customers, but requirements that apply may vary from campaign to campaign,” Finn Erik Arctander, CEO and Chairman of Agva Kraft, wrote in an email to E24.
He further writes, “If someone is incorrectly informed that they are ineligible, that will of course be corrected.”
On Thursday, he told E24 that nearly all of the electricity company’s customers were on spot price agreements, and thus the company was somewhat affected by the wholesale price hike.
“It is true that we have some flat rate campaigns this summer/fall, but contracts make up only a very small percentage of the total client portfolio,” Arctander wrote in an email at the time.
However, the company now has the means to remove customers from the same losing fixed rate agreements.
Arctander writes that it is clear from the campaign’s sales materials that the agreement cannot be signed by those who were customers before.
“But if individual customers get promises of something else, we will of course be responsible for what was agreed with them,” Arctander writes.
Screenshots have been sent from E24 of the relevant advertisement, here it just says “This is a promotional product that can only be ordered by new customers”.
However, it is not specified anywhere you have not been a customer before.
– Do you mean that you will only keep the agreements for those who requested them, and therefore got a positive answer that they meet the requirements for obtaining the agreement? But not for someone who meets the requirements but has not asked about this specifically?
“Of course, agreements are reserved for everyone You’ve never been a client before, that’s the basic rule for this type of promotion. If someone is approved exception With that in mind, we will also keep the agreement with them,” answers Arctander.
Regarding the statements of the Consumer Council, he says the following:
“Of course, Agfa Kraft does not change the terms of the fixed-rate agreement that has already been entered into. How the price of electricity develops has absolutely no bearing on the agreements between the customer and Agva Kraft, because that is the purpose of the fixed price agreement (that the price is fixed)”, writes Arctander and adds:
“However, customers who are not eligible for a promotional offer will be able to experience termination of their agreement.”
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I think a new customer is someone who hasn’t been a customer before, says Patrick Johansson.
He is one of many clients of Agva Kraft who yesterday received a notice that they would lose their lucrative fixed rate agreement.
– Here they come with a breach of contract nearly three months after they were able to instantly verify that I was a customer by September 2018. It’s a huge failure in the internal routine, and if you’re a conspirator, you can suspect they’re using this as some sort of fuse when they make The market is heading in a different direction than intended, Johansson says.
He accepted the offer in July by pegging the electricity price for the twelve months at 44.9 øre per kWh. In November, its spot price reached 1.3 kroner.
He is a member of the Facebook group Prismatch Strøm, where yesterday’s poll showed 29 members claiming to have been wrongly kicked out of a fixed-price agreement with Agva Kraft. Johansson told E24 he wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up with a class action lawsuit against the company.
Many of the Facebook group’s complainants state that they’ve been customers for several years, but many also claim that they’ve never purchased electricity from the company before.
Agva Kraft’s Finn Erik Arctander has been presented with comments from Patrik Johannson by E24, but has not commented on them.
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Iversen from the Consumer Council notes that customers who have been fired can file a complaint with the company and demand that the original fixed-price agreement be kept.
– If you do not agree, the case can be appealed to Elklagenemnda. In the meantime, you’re free to enter into a new agreement with any company, Iversen says.
He stressed that many companies may face challenges with the economy as a result of high electricity prices.
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The Consumers Council asks Norwegian electricity customers to keep track of whether agreements and prices have changed, Iversen says.
– If you have a fixed rate agreement, this will apply until the end of the agreement period. If you have a non-binding agreement, you can switch to another better agreement at any time
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