is there such a thing as a lawyer who deals with utilities/energy pricing disputes?

[WilfSell]

and does anyone know how I would go about finding one with such a specialism?

And ball park figure for initial consultation?

Hello legal eagles, are you there?

There are.... there's not many of them but most Dispute Resolution solicitors will deal with utilities. Not sure about costs though. Suppose it depends on seniority as with most fields. Probably upwards of £200 per hour

Thanks! So I can google 'dispute resolution' or contact the Law Society to find them?

Either should work - or yell.com for local solicitors and have a look at some of the websites to see if they do it.

Hi - I obviously don't know the nature of your dispute, but just wanted to say (as a lawyer) that I would try, if at all possible, to try to resolve this without getting a lawyer involved. It can get very expensive. Have you tried contacting Energywatch?

Thanks LittleDorrit, we are trying, but it's pretty complicated.

Myself and neighbours buy our utilities from a reseller (a university actually, where our houses are!). Many of us believe the university is acting beyond its remit by making charges above the rate they have bought the fuel etc for, and by not declaring the unit charge they pay (commercial in confidence agreements etc). We believe they are hiding behind the commercial agreement because they are actuall charging us more than they are allowed to according to the rules about the resale of energy, water supply etc..

This applies to water, gas and electricity.

We have contacted Energywatch but they say they can't deal with this as it doesn't concern one of the companies who supply ordinary consumers.

OFGEM only intervene at the level of regulation.

We are between stools.

Increasingly frustrated, some of us are wondering if legal action is the only redress...

You may be able to sue the thieving bastards under contract law, as you have a contract for services from them. It won't be cheap though. You'll have to contact the law firm and ask for their rates.

have you tried watchdog or the money complaints woman from the Times? She kicks but! Sorry. She sorts things like this out, it's very bad publicity.

Thanks Avenalife, the Times woman is a good idea, will think about it.