Burger King Holdings (NYSE:BKC) and Iceland Foods are among businesses which have slated energy suppliers over consistently high prices, arguing they have fuelled the cost-of-living crisis.
Responding to Ofgem’s consultation over alleged poor conduct by suppliers toward businesses, the duo accused energy firms of profiteering and discriminating against customers.
“Suppliers are attempting to remove every element of risk from their business by passing it directly onto their customers,” Iceland said.
“Customers then have no option but to pass these costs on where they can or absorb them. The first option fuels the cost-of-living crisis and the second could see many businesses fail.”
According to the frozen food specialist, energy contracts now come with sky-high fees as standard, while security deposits worth hundreds of thousands of pounds are difficult to get back.
Burger King suggested contracts were few and far between meanwhile, explaining just two energy suppliers were willing to supply it with gas.
Other complaints accused suppliers of charging unjustifiably high prices and even refusing to sell contracts to certain businesses, such as non-profits.
Though wholesale prices soared in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, costs have since declined to levels seen in 2021 - which is still higher than long-term averages.
Suppliers separately face a £2 billion lawsuit from Harcus Parker over similar claims that business customers have been unfairly hit with inflated prices in recent years.
“We need proper checks and controls on the industry to ensure they are not taking advantage of rising prices to swell their own profits at the expense of their customers,” the law firm said.
Ofgem responded that it had since looked to promote better complaint handling between suppliers and business customers.
“These initial views were in response to an early stage of our biggest deep-dive into the non-domestic energy market,” an Ofgem spokesperson said.
“Since then we’ve received more up-to-date responses [...] with positive feedback from consumer groups. We are carefully considering all the responses we have received.”