Refrigeration contractor penalised for misleading carbon price claims

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced it has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from South Australian refrigeration contractor Equipserve Solutions Pty Ltd.

The undertaking relates to statements made by Equipserve Solutions in an email to its customers which attributed the entire amount of an increase in the price of a refrigerant gas to the carbon price when that was not the case.

"The ACCC was concerned that Equipserve Solutions' statements had misled customers and caused them to believe that the entire price increase was due to the carbon price - when that was not in fact the case," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.

Equipserve Solutions acknowledged the ACCC concerns and admitted that the conduct contravened section 18 and 29 of the Australian Consumer Law.

Equipserve has cooperated fully with the ACCC and promptly offered a court enforceable undertaking to resolve the matter. Equipserve has undertaken to send a corrective notice directly to affected customers and to post a corrective notice on Equipserve Solutions' website.

Equipserve Solutions has also undertaken to:

• not engage in similar conduct in the future.
• implement a trade practices compliance program including training for staff on their legal obligations.