Three foundations line up to fight energy bill mass claim case

A third organisation has come forward with a mass claim against energy providers who illegally put up prices for customers with variable contracts.

The Consumer Justice Foundation says it has the “strongest case” against energy firms to date and is targeting 10 companies operating in the Netherlands, four more than the other two initiatives.

The foundation, which has just started registering claimants, is also targeting small firms which were duped when energy firms put up their charges more often than stated in their contracts.

The Dutch consumer association Consumentenbond and homeowners’ lobby group VEH said last week they are pressing ahead with their collective claim against six major Dutch energy providers, accusing them of illegally increasing rates for people on variable contracts from 2017.

And in July, the Eerlijke Handelspraktijken foundation said it would launch a case against six energy firms.  A fourth organsation, Claimer.nl, which says it has 100,000 clients, said on Friday it was “ready” for the mass claim but has not, reportedly, filed any paperwork. Dutch News has asked Claimer.nl, which is a limited company, for comment.

The claims stem from another court ruling earlier this year concerning Vattenfall, which raised its variable rates in April 2022 in response to rapidly rising prices on the international gas markets. They had quadrupled between January and August.

In March, the appeal court in Amsterdam said Vattenfall’s decision to hike prices in April was an “unfair trading practice” because the conditions of its variable contract stated that rates would change twice a year, in January and July.

The Dutch law on resolving mass damages in collective actions, known as Wamca, came into force in 2020 with the aim of improving access to justice. It allows people who have suffered similar harm – from privacy breaches to product defects – to take legal action collectively.

Professor Ianika Tzankova, who is an expert in mass claim cases and a lawyer with Rubicon Impact and Litigation, told Dutch News that having three separate cases must be very challenging for the average consumer.

New phenomenon

“This a new phenomenon we are dealing with. These are cases against companies in good financial shape. By taking them on, you are doing good and you can earn money, so it is not a bad thing in itself,” she said. “But my expectation is that we will mature and come to a more sophisticated system. It is a matter of finding the right balance.”

Judges will now examine the three separate cases and decide which of the foundations will be able to take the claim forward. That is expected to take at least 12 months.

In the TikTok privacy mass claims case, in which three separate organisations filed legal documents, the court divided up responsibilities for separate parts of the claim between the three of them.