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Energy company Oxxio made a mistake with the energy rates of 55,000 customers. The company, which belongs to Eneco, acknowledges that it has applied too high and too low tariffs. All customers will be refunded the amount wrongly charged, Eneco told Nieuwsuur.
These are families that have a contract with Oxxio, an energy supplier that is part of Eneco. Contracts that expired between May and September and are renewed for the first time will not receive a rate change. But it happened due to an error.
The case comes to light thanks to the observant son of an Oxxio customer. Rob de Haan of Rotterdam heard that his 87-year-old mother would pay an extra 120 euros a month for gas and electricity. So he went through his mother’s contract. He found out in the general terms and conditions that a rate increase is only possible after consultation between Oxxio and the customer.
Luckily I rang the bell.
“My mother was not consulted in any way,” says De Haan. “So there was no consultation.” The man, who is a lawyer in his day-to-day life, threatened to file a lawsuit against Oxxio, after which the company admitted it had made a mistake. “Lucky I rang the bell. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t.”
Eneco regrets the course of events and underlines that it is absolutely not about intentions. A spokesperson says the error should never have happened and that it’s not exactly clear how the error could have occurred.
The energy company will refund the incorrectly charged amounts. “We still need time for this,” says the spokesperson. All affected customers will receive a letter and the energy supplier will also report the unjustified increase to the Dutch Consumers and Markets Authority (ACM).
