Class action lawsuit filed against 6 Dutch power companies over variable rate hikes

The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation (CCC), in collaboration with the Consumentenbond and the homeowners’ association VEH, is launching a class action lawsuit against six major energy suppliers in the Netherlands. They’re demanding compensation for millions of consumers who they believe unfairly faced interim rate increases during their variable energy contracts. Around 225,000 consumers have signed up for the mass claim so far, the Consumentenbond, the Dutch consumers’ association, reported on Monday.

Since 1 April 2017, most energy suppliers in the Netherlands have used the same terms and conditions and increased their variable rates intermittently, always on January 1 and July 1. But during the energy crisis, when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and caused energy prices to skyrocket, consumers with variable energy contracts faced rate hikes every quarter and sometimes every month. Energy suppliers even stopped offering fixed contracts for months due to the rapidly fluctuating energy prices.

In March, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled in a case against energy company Vattenfall. The court concluded that Vattenfall’s “amendment clause” in its general terms and conditions was unfair and illegal. The ruling invalidated the interim rate increases that the company charged its customers with variable contracts.

As almost all energy companies use the same terms and conditions and increased their variable rates in the interim, millions of Dutch people have been paying more than they’ve had to for their energy for years, sometimes by thousands of euros per household, the Consumentenbond said.

According to Sandra Molenaar of the Consumentenbond, the consumers’ association and the VEH have always opposed the amendment clause in energy companies’ general terms and conditions and have often pushed for it to be changed. “It is completely unclear on what basis an energy supplier is permitted to adjust its rates in the interim. Unfortunately, we were unable to persuade the energy suppliers to change this. But the Court’s ruling now provides additional support to advocate for millions of consumers.”

The advocacy groups want the power companies to amend their terms and conditions and compensate affected consumers for the wrongfully collected amounts. The associations tried reaching an agreement with the energy suppliers, but the talks led nowhere. They are therefore forced to start this class action case, Cindy Kremer of the VEH said.

So far, 175,000 consumers have signed up for the mass claim through the Consumentenbond, and another nearly 50,000 through the VEH. Consumers can still sign up to participate. If they win, the maximum compensation is 17.5 percent of the damages.

The Consumentenbond also warned that it received several reports that criminals were using this class action for phishing attempts. Emails and online ads, sometimes with the Consumentenbond’s name and logo, are going around with texts like “Claim up to €10,000 back,” the consumer’s association said. “Such messages are never from the Consumentenbond.”