Nine out of 10 of us, you won't be surprised to hear, are not interested in dealing with another cold caller or doorstep sales rep trying to get us to change our gas and electricity suppliers.

That's according to the consumer body, Energywatch.

So are they going to stop the salespeople coming? No, don't be so daft.

The Energywatch findings won't come as a surprise to people who have had a bad experience with doorstep selling of gas and electricity.

What mystifies many of them is why the government and the industry hasn't managed to clamp down effectively up until now.

Horror stories

School caretaker Peter Richardson

School caretaker, Peter Richardson, is one of hundreds who have written in with horror stories about pressure-selling.

He first came across it when his 85 year-old-father was confused into signing up with two different suppliers at the same time.

Then he became a target himself.

"Having once been bitten, when someone called at my house I questioned them carefully.

They repeatedly lied

Peter Richardson

"They repeatedly lied, so I rang the company and they told me he'd been discharged.

"Another salesman called at my house and he repeated three times that he was only changing the person that was reading the meter, and that there was no transfer of power.

"Again, I wrote to the firm and they said he'd been discharged."

"The last occassion was the worst of all.

"I had no visit, but my contract was changed in the name of 'King' without anything else happening, and someone fortunately filled out the form!"

Energywatch survey

Peter's is the sort of experience which lends credibility to Energywatch's findings.

They interviewed 1,984 people, and found that 91% were not interested in talking to cold callers or sales reps on the doorstep.

Only 1% would like to, and 53% felt pressured by them.

Energywatch's Ann Robinson

With the public becoming so antagonised by dubious sales tactics, there's a danger that people will be put off switching supplier, even if there are savings to be made.

Ann Robinson is from Energywatch.

"This is evidence that this sort of selling has backfired.

These salespeople are resorting to more and more dubious tactics

Ann Robinson, Energywatch

"These salespeople are resorting to more and more dubious tactics, and it's putting people off.

"We have to turn it round now because if the salesperson behaves properly it can help as there are better deals out there.

Suppliers, consumer bodies and the Minister for Energy, Brian Wilson, will be attending a summit meeting on Thursday, to try to clean up the industry.

Code of Practise

British Gas has already introduced a code of practice for its sales force, designed to ensure that standards are kept high.

The company would like the whole industry to get tough over pressure- selling.

"What was happening in the past was that rogue salesmen were defrauding customers, and were fired by one company only to then join another", says Simon Waugh, deputy managing director at British Gas.

"It's very important that these people are known about and that they don't work in these jobs again."

Simple solution

Peter Richardson has a simple solution: a new rule laying down that a new supplier can only take on a customer's business if the customer has told his old supplier that he wants to switch.

Another suggestion is that sales reps would have to send a contract through the post, so that customers could decide on their own whether to sign, rather than on the doorstep, under pressure.

But energy companies oppose any rule changes which would make it harder to persude people to switch or slow down the process.

And whatever happens at Thursday's summit, there's little chance that the sales reps will be banned from the doorstep.