Complaints about energy firms using telephone selling have risen

Energywatch, the power watchdog, claims one in five people have been pestered by aggressive sales staff urging them to switch supplier.

It says some salesmen are tying up telephone lines for hours, leaving customers feeling pressurised.

Spokeswoman Hazel Parsons said hundreds of people were being duped by "dodgy scams, harassment and poor advice".

Code of practice

She said telesales incidents now accounted for one in five of all mis-selling complaints to the watchdog, compared to one in 10 a year-and-a-half ago.

Energywatch has called for rules covering the industry's sale of gas and electricity to be extended to telephone selling.

Ms Parsons said: "Our research has shown that telesales is now as common as doorstep selling and causing great distress and inconvenience to consumers.

"It is quite ridiculous that the industry's flagship code of practice does not cover telesales."