Energy supplier Hollandse Energie Maatschappij (HEM) bends the knee to consumer watchdog ACM. Customers will receive a lower rate retroactively. Customers may also leave without a cancellation fee. And HEM will stop recruiting customers by telephone for at least three years.
HEM customers who signed a permanent contract last year or this year up to and including today will receive a lower rate retroactively.
If consumers prefer to have nothing more to do with HEM, even at the reduced rates, they can choose to switch to another supplier without a cancellation fee. The company has agreed to this, under pressure from the ACM.
According to the controversial energy supplier, it has now stopped selling energy contracts by telephone. It won’t do that in the next three years either.
External supervisor
HEM is forced to make significant concessions to the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). The ACM will check whether the company adheres to the agreements. Furthermore, an external supervisor will be appointed to the company who reports directly to the ACM. If HEM does not comply with the agreements, this may have consequences for the permit, according to the ACM.
More than a thousand complaints
Since the beginning of this year, the ACM has received more than a thousand complaints about HEM, which is why the ACM took further measures. For example, the ACM energy company had to put its administration and finances in order and was fined 1.1 million euros for ‘serious deception’ in the telephone sale of energy contracts.
HEM has approximately 6,000 customers who signed a permanent contract between January 1, 2023 and July 1. In total, the company has more than 22,000 customers.
Compensation
HEM makes the following adjustments:
Customers who concluded a fixed or variable contract at an excessively high rate in the first half of 2023 will receive retroactive compensation for the excessive rates.
Customers who signed a permanent contract in the second half of 2023 or until April 29, 2024 will pay a lower rate retroactively from January 1, 2024.
Customers who signed a permanent contract between January 1 and April 29, 2024 and remain customers of HEM pay the lower rate from the month in which they became a customer.
HEM has also promised that former customers who took out a fixed-term contract in 2023 or 2024 and have already paid a cancellation fee will get their money back.
Tags: Energy company HEM customers ACM pressure rates RTL News
