ONE of Britain’s biggest power companies has launched an internal inquiry after its salesmen were found to be routinely lying to householders to trick them into signing up as new customers.

An investigation by the Sunday Times can reveal the dirty tricks being used by Scottish Hydro Electric reps to convince homeowners to switch from their existing gas and electricity suppliers.

An undercover reporter, working as a trainee salesman, recorded sales staff deceiving customers while boasting about huge commissions.

The reporter, who spent three weeks training and then shadowing experienced staff, witnessed reps using underhand tactics that included:

Making up prices on the doorstep.

Pretending to be officials from the “Gas Board”.

Exploiting pensioners living on their own.

Asking people to sign documents without revealing that they were a contract.

One sales representative boasted of having lied to a recently bereaved widow that she would receive electricity insurance cover free when, in fact, it was costing her an extra £4 a month.

Describing his sales technique, the rep said: “Its not lying, it’s a fabrication of the truth. I went through it all at the door and I actually had to stand and think, how much of that is actually bollocks. I mean, there was a wee bit of f***** truth in there.”

Scottish Hydro Electric, owned by Perth-based Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), last year posted pre-tax profits of £1.2 billion. Between April and June it attracted 350,000 new customers, taking its total number of clients to 8.8m. Some of its staff boast of earning more than £1,100-a-week with commission.

One rep, Sonny Devlin, was recorded lying to householders that rival energy firms bought their gas and electricity from Scottish Hydro and that switching from their current supplier would save them money.

He also pressured Eleanor Lyall, a 75-year-old, partially-sighted stroke victim, into signing up for electricity insurance cover that cost £16.20 a month, even though she couldn’t see the document she was signing.

“I told them I couldn’t see, but the chap showed me the form and I signed. I just wanted them to go,” said Mrs Lyall, who later cancelled the contract.

A former salesman, who did not want to be named, said he had reported incidents of mis-selling by several salesmen but that only one, who had accumulated 27 customer complaints, was sacked as a result.

Alex Neil, the nationalist MSP and a former convener of the Scottish parliament’s enterprise committee described the findings as “outrageous”.

He said: “There should be criminal prosecutions for this. There should be a full-scale parliamentary investigation and, in the meantime all the allegations should be brought to the attention of the Crown Office.”

A spokeswoman for Scottish Hydro Electric said the findings would be fully investigated. “Anyone found mis-selling using our company name will be disciplined severely,” she said. “We won’t have it.”

Times Recommends

• Oh no, Mr Darling: you have failed
• BBC survives dogfight over Kennel Club expose
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone