What is a letter of authority?
A Letter of Authority (LOA) is a legal document that authorises a third party to correspond with service providers on behalf of you and your business. The LOA outlines and stipulates the tasks that the third party can handle and are used in many UK industries.
Although extremely important to the running of your business, many people won’t have the time to personally compare energy prices and select the best deal, on top of managing the administration involved with speaking to suppliers.
That’s why so many businesses hand over this responsibility to an intermediary that can do this for them. For Inenco to help you with your business energy, you will need to provide our energy consultant with a valid signed and dated Letter of Authority.
By signing an LOA, we are not able to agree on contracts or new suppliers without further express permission.
What does a Letter of Authority enable an energy consultant to do?
- Request and receive current and historical account information including consumption history, supply numbers, pricing details, and contract end dates
- Request prices from and negotiate with energy suppliers
- Start the process of switching or renewing energy supplier contracts or negotiate with other suppliers to find your business an improved deal (subject to your final approval)
- Correspond and liaise with your current energy supplier to deal with any service and/or billing queries on your behalf
- Organise energy-related maintenance or upgrade appointments with your supplier, such as standard boiler services or smart meter installations
- Raise complaints with your supplier and handle them on your behalf
- Submit meter readings or collect energy consumption data collected by your supplier for energy management purposes
An LOA does not allow our energy consultants to agree contracts or switch suppliers on your behalf. We would always talk to you and gain further permission to do so if this was the right thing for your business.
How long is and Letter of Authority valid for?
LOAs will state how long they are valid for. Often LOAs remain valid for the period of 12 months from the date of signature, or if you have a fixed-term contract, it will be valid for the duration of the fixed term period unless you advise otherwise.
You will be asked to sign another LOA if your current LOA has expired and you would like your consultant to consultant acting on your behalf.
Is it safe to sign a Letter of Authority?
Whenever you are asked to sign a legal document, it is always important that you read all of the information and understand it fully before you sign anything. The LOA that Inenco sends you gives our consultants the authority to speak to your suppliers on your behalf, which saves you a lot of time. Without a signed LOA, we won’t be able to process your request with us.
How do I write a Letter of Authority?
We know that writing document like this can take up a lot of time which is why we supply you with a template document that you can simply review and sign.
If you have any questions about what is in the LOA, then speak to your energy consultant on 0800 408 1499 who will be more than happy to talk you through it with you.
