E.ON announces end to doorstep selling - 06/07/2012

The last of the big six energy suppliers has announced it will end its policy of unsolicited doorstep selling of gas and electricity contracts.

E.ON has said it will carry out an "appropriate consultation period" before planning to bring the technique to an end.

The move comes 15 years after the introduction of the selling tactic, which sees unexpected sales people try to persuade customers to switch supplier.

E.ON has been under pressure to end doorstep selling ever since Scottish Power announced it would be ending the technique last October. 

Energy regulator Ofgem has welcomed the move, with the company's senior partner for markets Andrew Wright describing the decision as "encouraging". 

Mr Wright added that the retail market has historically been "stifled by a combination of tariff complexity, poor supplier behaviour, and lack of transparency". 

The news comes as part of a wider promise to improve relations with customers, through methods such as the introduction of a single page bill. 

Ofgem announced in April it planned to investigate E.ON's sales techniques to clarify whether it has been using misleading techniques to encourage switching. 

Several other energy suppliers have been assessed amid allegations of mis-selling via the phone and on doorsteps. 

This move came after Surrey Trading Standards successfully prosecuted SSE for misleading information that led to thousands of customers switching. 

Consumer Focus' Audrey Gallacher said the investigations have helped to encourage energy companies to try and "turn a corner" on consumer trust. 

She said: "It is particularly welcome that E.ON has finally listened to energy consumers and followed in the footsteps of other suppliers by proposing today to end cold call doorstep sales." 

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