No Hidden Commission
No Hidden Fees: Why Transparent Charging Matters
We value transparency, accuracy and honesty in everything we do.
However, this isn’t true of all utility and energy intermediaries such as consultancies and brokers; many of them use supplier commissions to hide substantial payments in your contracts with suppliers.
We never hide fees.
At the tendering stage, it’s very easy for an intermediary to request a supplier to include a commission payment for themselves and to state how much this should be. The supplier then adds this on to tenders without informing yourselves.
Why would they do this? The answer is simple: there’s no legislation that forces intermediaries to disclose commission; and it can add up to huge sums of money over the duration of contracts, especially if your intermediary has negotiated a longer contract on your behalf – which places the supplier, and not necessarily you, at an advantage.
This is why we want to ensure that the exact amount you’re being charged for our service is clear to you, agreed upon in advance and paid directly when and where possible.
We will never place a hidden commission in a supply contract – and we will always remain impartial and independent. Our negotiations with suppliers are on your behalf – not ours.
We can structure our charges to meet your requirements. You can choose to pay us or we can ask the tenderers to include our payment as commission if you prefer. That said, unlike with most of our competitors, this commission will be outlined explicitly and never hidden. We will also make you aware of the level of commission which would be based upon our fee paying service.
Unlike our service, most intermediaries paid by commission will only tender your supply contracts and will not carry out the ongoing bill management; that will be up to you do deal with.
Our Utility Bureau Service provides many additional services beyond procurement:
“When it comes to renewing contracts with utility service providers, we are comfortable in the knowledge that Clifford Talbot will broker the best deal possible for Yeomans. We know this will be the case because Clifford Talbot Partnership provide their services under a completely transparent fixed fee agreement and, unlike the majority of utility service brokers, do not take payment from utility companies.”