Butchers’ shops are among those who have joined a £2 billion legal claim aimed at getting compensation from UK energy giants, which are alleged to have paid secret commissions to third-party brokers, according to lawyers Harcus Parker.
The undisclosed broker commissions, which were added onto the unit cost of gas and electricity, are said, according to Harcus Parker, to have falsely inflated energy prices for up to two million businesses and organisations in the UK.
The firm is launching a group litigation to reclaim these commissions from the energy suppliers who it alleges paid the money to brokers without customers’ knowledge.
So far 14 butchers have signed up to the Harcus Parker claim and more are being urged to join.
The claim comes at a time when many butchers, alongside many other retailers, are struggling financially as energy prices and inflationary pressures are being felt by high street shops.
"...we would expect individual butchers to be able to claim back thousands of pounds each."
Damon Parker
"We are very pleased that we are able to help these butchers’ shops that have signed up to the legal claim," said Damon Parker, senior partner at Harcus Parker.
"We’re acutely aware that all shops are suffering at the moment as they try to wrestle with inflation and increased energy prices. We hope that by helping to return some of these secret commissions to businesses that it will help ease some of the financial burden.
"With many claims stretching back several years we would expect individual butchers to be able to claim back thousands of pounds each.
"We would urge any butchers who have not yet joined the legal action to contact us to see how we can help."
Research conducted by the law firm alleges that one energy supplier offered brokers as much as 10p/kWh in commissions that were then added to customers’ bills, frequently without their knowledge.
More information about Harcus Parker's initiative can be found here.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
