Challenger energy supplier Outfox the Market has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over a misleading Facebook advert.
On 5 April the supplier’s Facebook page featured a cover video featuring a graphic which stated it offered the “cheapest green deals in the UK”.
A further post on its page, uploaded the same day, claimed that there was a “14-hour window” in which the supplier was the second cheapest supplier but it had since reclaimed the top spot. A graphic stated “the cheapest energy supplier in the UK”.
The complainant however found that the supplier did not offer the cheapest tariff when carrying out different searches on comparison sites.
The authority concluded that because it had not seen sufficient evidence showing that Outfox “consistently and regularly” offered the cheapest energy and green energy tariff to all consumers in the UK, the ads were misleading.
During the ASA’s investigation Outfox explained that it did not make the claims to users in the Scottish Hydro area as it had high distribution costs. Furthermore, it said the ad should have included a qualification setting out that the Scottish Hydro Area was not included.
Although the ASA did acknowledge that Outfox had put some provisions in place to prevent consumers who might reside in the Scottish Hydro tariff area from seeing the ad, it considered the ads’ claims, which did not make reference to any geographical exclusions, would be understood to relate to the UK as a whole.
Outfox also provided links to around 30 news articles from a range of different publications dating from December 2017 to August 2019 which made reference to offering the cheapest energy or green deal in the UK.
The supplier considered the quantity of articles from many publications demonstrated that it had been found to have the cheapest tariff on the market by multiple researchers who also confirmed in the articles that they had searched various platforms.
In response the ASA said the advertiser should provide robust comparative evidence and representative data relevant to all UK consumers to substantiate the claims that its tariffs were cheaper than all other energy providers and that it did not consider that news articles were sufficient to support the claims.
The ASA considered that Outfox’s claim that it was the cheapest supplier in the UK would be interpreted by consumers as an absolute claim that the supplier was providing a cheaper energy tariff than any other provider, regardless of a consumer’s usage or where they were based.
While the second advert indicated that there was a 14-hour window in which Outfox did not consider it could claim to be the cheapest supplier, the ASA considered that consumers would understand that was “temporary and unusual”.
Outfox stated that all the energy it supplied was green as standard, and therefore all its tariffs were green by nature.
Screenshots from a price comparison website were also provided in evidence showing an Outfox tariff offering the greatest savings of all others listed, in relation to all three of Ofgem’s average energy use values.
The ASA said the screenshots were partial and did not represent the full web page, adding that supporting documents should include all relevant information.
The authority also noted that neither the ads nor the screenshots set out the time period to which the results related, and that it had not seen further supporting information showing that Outfox consistently or regularly offered the cheapest tariff.
Furthermore, it said it was not clear whether the Outfox tariffs listed in the price comparison sites were available to all consumers in the UK.
The ASA ruled that the ads must not appear again in their current form. Outfox the Market was told not to claim it offered the cheapest tariff to all UK consumers regardless of usage or location unless it held “sufficient evidence” to support its claims.