Last week the Citizens Advice Bureaux laid into the doorstep-selling industry, saving some of their harshest words for sales reps touting for the new competing gas and electricity companies.

Now the energy companies have their chance to answer, because they've launched a pilot scheme to try to ensure that their people are properly training and accredited.

'EnergySure' is a new initiative which seeks to promote best practice in energy selling.

Developed by the Electricity Association, the scheme claims to grant official, nationally accepted recognition and accreditation to energy sales agents, both electricity and gas.

At last

So, at last some recognition from the sales professionals of the need to clean up their industry.

We spoke to some of the salesmen at operator TXU Energi.

They'd been issued with badges certifying that they had been retrained following the principles of the new scheme, called Energysure, designed to get rid of the bad apples.

Les McNeill, TXU Energi

"We've had so many companies doorstep-selling for want of a better term, and the feedback we've had is very upsetting," says Les McNeill, of TXU Energi.

"I think it's an excellent idea, and it makes us more like registered engineers," says Richard Marsh, another salesman.

The main features of the scheme are the training you'd expect in what you can and cannot do if you're working house to house.

Secure

And also a secure national register so that companies can check that new recruits have been through the right courses and preparation, as well as the id cards for the benefit of the customer.

"The message to salespeople is clear," says Eddie Wilkinson, Head of Sales at TXU Energi.

"Be ethical, take your badge along with you explaining who you are, and then hopefully make a sale, but only ethically."

In a sense it's nothing new; there are already licensing conditions and voluntary codes of conduct in place which clearly haven't always been adhered to.

Crucially however, at the heart of this new centralised vetting system, is an on-line database of approved energy sales people.

Rigorous

All participating companies will be able to use to certify that employees are qualified to the rigorous standards.

By introducing a tough new accreditation scheme for energy sales agents, those who fail to deliver to the standard can no longer simply move on to another unsuspecting supplier.

In terms of the specific rules the new system has introduced, all salespeople are now expected to explain what they're selling and what the consumer is signing, and must leave when asked to.

They should only knock on doors between 8am and 8pm, and if they're talking to an elderley person, a second person should always be present.

Demand

Interestingly, the new rules also demand that they must be sure of their price claim, and if they do agree a sale with a customer they must re-confirm the changeover of supplier within a fortnight.

This is a pilot scheme, confined to the limited number of suppliers which have joined, though it does include big names such as British Gas, Powergen, ScottishPower, SEEBOARD Energy, and TXU Europe.

All the other operating companies say they'll play their part in the coming months.

Whether the system actually begins to prevent the kind of hard-selling so many of you have complained about remains to be seen.

But as they head off to start knocking on doors, you have to welcome the efforts of some companies to provide more reassurance to the people they're intending to sell to.