Everything you’d want to know before you start.

No, nothing, at any stage. The 90-second check is free, and sending us your bills is free. You are never asked for a card, a deposit, or a fee to get started. If we ever asked you for money upfront, that would be your cue to walk away.

If solicitors take the case on and it succeeds, they take a success fee. That fee comes out of the money recovered, not out of your pocket separately, and the percentage is agreed with you in writing before you commit to anything. You keep the remainder. Profitwize itself is paid a separate introduction fee by the claims company. That never comes from you and is never added to your claim.

Yes. The solicitors’ fee attracts VAT, and it isn’t recovered from the other side. If your business is VAT-registered, most can reclaim that VAT through their normal VAT return, but it’s worth checking with your accountant so there are no surprises.

No. In appropriate cases the solicitors work on a no-win-no-fee basis, which means that if the claim doesn’t succeed, you are not billed for their work. You’re not out of pocket for having tried. The main thing you’ll have spent is a little time.

Your claim is also covered by After-the-Event (ATE) insurance, so you’re protected from paying the other side’s costs too. That premium is only ever payable if you win.

It depends on your energy spend and how long your contracts ran, and nobody can give you a real number until the case is properly assessed. Be wary of anyone who promises a figure upfront, including us. What we can tell you is that claims below about £10,000 of commission aren’t taken on at all, so any claim that qualifies is a meaningful, typically five-figure sum.

Usually, yes. Because your energy costs were a deductible business expense, getting some of that back is normally treated as income in the year you receive it. Any interest element is taxed separately. Your accountant can confirm exactly how it applies to you.

No. Compensation is outside the scope of VAT, so there’s no VAT on the money you get back. (VAT can apply to the solicitors’ fee, which is a separate thing.) If you reclaimed VAT on the original bills there may be a small adjustment to make, so it’s worth a word with your accountant.

Very little, and we do the legwork around it: answer four quick questions (the 90-second check on the home page), have one short call of around ten minutes to confirm details and sign a letter of authority on your phone, and send a few photos of 4 to 6 bills and the contract if you have it. After that, specialist solicitors handle the claim. You take one short call with them, and we keep you posted throughout.

To get started, just enough to check you qualify: who arranged the contract, roughly when it was signed, and a rough idea of your monthly energy spend. To progress a claim, the solicitors will want photos of a handful of recent bills, the contract if you still have it, and a signed letter of authority (which you can sign on your phone). Don’t worry if you’re missing paperwork.

Straightforward things: which broker or consultant arranged your energy, roughly when, whether you were ever told a commission figure in writing, who your supplier is, and roughly what you spend. Nothing you need to prepare for. “I’m not sure” is a fine answer to any of it, and we’ll help you find anything that’s missing.

Most people don’t, at first. Your supplier’s online portal keeps PDF bills under Billing, your accountant almost certainly holds copies, and a signed letter of authority can allow documents to be obtained directly. We help with all of it. That’s our job, not yours.

The initial check takes days, not months. If solicitors take the case on, the legal process varies: settled claims in this sector typically run months rather than weeks, and longer if court proceedings are needed. It runs no-win-no-fee throughout, so there’s no cost to you while it does.

Yes. Once you’ve signed with the solicitors, you have a 14-day cooling-off period to cancel in writing, at no cost. And if you ever want to stop later, they’ll always talk you through your options first.

They may well have, and brokers are entitled to be paid. The claim isn’t about using a broker; it’s about commission that was hidden inside your unit rate without telling you the amount. You can have got a decent deal and still have paid thousands in commission you were never told about.

Not necessarily. Commission was paid over the life of the contract, so payments within roughly the last six years can still be in time, and as the Expert Tooling ruling showed, claims can sometimes reach back further than that. The window does close over time, though, which is a genuine reason not to sit on it.

Possibly, in time. On its own, a claim under roughly £10,000 of commission isn’t economic to run, so smaller claims aren’t taken on individually today. But the courts are increasingly allowing many low-value claims to be brought together as a single group claim, which can make them worth pursuing collectively. It’s a developing area and we can’t promise how or when it will open, but if you register your details we’ll keep them on file and come back to you if a group claim can take cases like yours.

In the cases we’ve seen, no. Claims relate to historic contracts, and the process runs between the solicitors and the other side. You’re not confronting anyone yourself. If you still use the same broker, you may want to review that relationship anyway; arguably that’s the point.

Be careful. A partial refund offer is often a sign there’s more to recover, and accepting it may affect your rights. Speak to a solicitor before accepting anything. The check costs you nothing, so there’s no harm in knowing the full picture first.

The claim belongs to whoever is named on the supply contract. If the meter and contract sit with a landlord, franchisor or managing agent, the claim is theirs, even if you paid the bills through a service charge. It’s worth checking whose name is actually on the contract before you start.

It depends. If you signed something marked full and final settlement on the same issue, that usually rules out a fresh claim. An unresolved complaint doesn’t. Either way it’s worth mentioning up front so it can be checked.

A fair question, this sector attracts chancers. We’re a local business based in Nottingham, and there is nothing to pay at any point, ever. The claims come from real court rulings on hidden broker commission covered in the national and certain trade press. Search “energy broker hidden commission,” read for yourself, then come back.

Yes, in the way this kind of claim requires. Profitwize is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for data protection, registration number ZC199096. Our introducer role sits outside FCA regulation because business energy claims aren’t an FCA-regulated activity in the first place. The claim itself is handled by a specialist claims company and pursued by an SRA-regulated law firm on their panel, and we’re happy to share their names and regulatory details before you commit to anything.

The law firm carries £3 million of professional indemnity insurance. If you’re ever unhappy with their service, complaints go to the firm first and then, if needed, to the independent Legal Ombudsman.

Expert Tooling and Automation Limited is a manufacturer that had an energy broker, Utilitywise, arrange its electricity contracts with the supplier, Engie Power Limited. Expert Tooling claimed that more than £130,000 had been added to its energy bills across five contracts from 2016 onward, without the amount ever being disclosed. The legal principle came from the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling in Hopcraft v Close Brothers, which clarified the law on undisclosed commissions. Whether any particular commission is recoverable turns on the facts of that case. On the strength of that, in January 2026 the Supreme Court allowed its appeal by consent and gave judgment in its favour, on contracts dating back years. The settlement terms were not published. It’s the clearest sign yet that undisclosed commission on business energy contracts can be recoverable.

The £130,000 is the amount Expert Tooling said had been added to its bills. The Supreme Court gave judgment in its favour, but the terms were not made public, so no figure is in the public domain. What the case establishes is the principle, not a sum.

Two things converged. First, from 1 October 2024 the regulator made it mandatory to disclose broker commission on all business energy contracts, which drew a bright line between compliant new contracts and the older, undisclosed ones. Second, the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling in Hopcraft v Close Brothers clarified that, where commission was hidden, businesses may be able to claim it back. Older claims do drop out of time as the years pass, so the practical answer is: worth checking sooner rather than later.