The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted legal proceedings against Wesfarmers Kleenheat Gas Pty Ltd (trading as Kleenheat Gas) alleging misleading or deceptive conduct concerning the pricing of bulk LPG supplied under contract.
Bulk LPG is supplied in storage vessels with a capacity of 190 kilograms or more which are primarily installed at the premises of commercial customers including restaurants, cafes, laundromats and sporting clubs.
The ACCC alleges that during 2002 and 2003 Kleenheat Gas engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by:
- representing to particular customers that the price for bulk LPG supplied to them would vary according to movements in Kleenheat Gas' actual costs of supply, by reference to an external measure or benchmark (typically the Saudi Aramco Contract Price) or according to Kleenheat's 'list price' or 'ruling scale of prices', when in fact this was not, or was no longer, the basis on which the customer's price would be varied, and
- failing to disclose the existence and nature of certain price management practices by Kleenheat Gas, which involved the customer account being selected as subject to a 'Managed Monthly Account' or 'Quickhit' practice, which was the actual basis for price variations.
The ACCC alleges that as a result of Kleenheat Gas applying the 'Managed Monthly Account' and 'Quickhit' practices, the basis on which Kleenheat moved particular bulk LPG customers' prices differed from that represented to them and resulted in some customers paying a higher price for bulk LPG than would have otherwise been the case.
The ACCC is seeking declarations that the conduct contravened section 52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974, injunctions and costs.
The ACCC instituted proceedings in the Federal Court, Brisbane.