INDUSTRIAL HOLDINGS group DCC has denied allegations in the media that it had inflated bills and “ripped off” oil customers in Britain.

The claims against DCC’s British oil distribution business GB Oils were made by the Sunday Times over the past three weeks. The paper alleged the company had billed customers more than they were originally quoted, and had built up a “stranglehold” on the British home heating oil market.

DCC yesterday described the allegations as “misleading”.

The company blamed rises in the price of heating oil on constrained supply due to severe weather, increased demand and higher costs. It denied deliberately overcharging customers.

“GB Oils’ policy is that the price it quotes to its customers is the price that the customer is invoiced and in the event of any administrative errors credit notes are issued. DCC absolutely refutes any allegation that GB Oils has defrauded its customers,” it said in a statement yesterday.

GB Oil, which entered the market in 2001, has acquired a number of businesses in the oil distribution sector in Britain, and has continued to sell under national, regional and local brands. It said it kept the different names due to “considerable local goodwill associated with the brands”.

It also owns price comparison website BoilerJuice.com, which also came in for criticism in the reports.

DCC denied claims it had a “virtual monopoly” in parts of Britain in the heating oil market, saying there were more than 175 other oil distributors in Britain, and GB Oils faced strong competition in every local area in which it operated.

It also said the website continued to be impartial, and worked with about 50 suppliers that were not owned by DCC.

DCC acknowledged that a Welsh county council was investigating customer complaints. Carmarthenshire County Council is looking into the complaints, which concern GB Oils’ business in south Wales and arise from January last year. However, it has denied any fraudulent activity or unfair trading concerning pricing.