Ofgem's Retail Market Review - Have Your Say

A_4_Tune

Getting the energy companies to stop hiding the data that you need to make comparisons (annual usage) would be a good start!
There is also absolutely no doubt that the complex permutations of "1st units" and "subsequent units" are designed specifically to make price comparisons pretty much impossible without a scientific calculator or spreadsheet!
So
1. Every bill or statement to include the KJ of electricity and gas consumed in the previous 12 months
2. Every company to be forced to have no more than 2 tiers of pricing for each product with a single common swap-over point across all products and all companies.

Cardew

A_4_Tune wrote: »

2. Every company to be forced to have no more than 2 tiers of pricing for each product with a single common swap-over point across all products and all companies.

It is not just the Tier pricing but the discounts that make it even more complicated.

For instance the EON tariff I am on gives me discounts for Dual fuel, paying by Direct Debit and having an on-line account, these discount total 26%!

rogerblack

Cardew wrote: »

It is not just the Tier pricing but the discounts that make it even more complicated.

For instance the EON tariff I am on gives me discounts for Dual fuel, paying by Direct Debit and having an on-line account, these discount total 26%!

The npower sign-online-21 offers a total of 100 quid discount for dual fuel customers.
As I'm planning on using very little power this year, my total discount should be around 35%.

Cardew

rogerblack wrote: »

The npower sign-online-21 offers a total of 100 quid discount for dual fuel customers.
As I'm planning on using very little power this year, my total discount should be around 35%.

Do you know if there is a restriction on the minimum amount of gas electricity?

I have a little used annex, where I don't use £100 worth of gas and electricity. So if I used say a total of £80 for gas and electricity, could I get Npower to pay me £20 for the privilege of supplying me?

I would just love to 'get one over' on Npower

sjcrompo

Hi first post here so here goes.

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from British Gas explaining how times were hard in the fuel industry and that they had no option other than to increase my duel fuel bill by 7%. The very next day it is announced that they had made record profits of 29% somewhere in the region of 750 million pounds.

I'd like to know how they are allowed to do this. It seems a bit one sided to me.

Thanks

Steve

KimYeovil

sjcrompo wrote: »

I'd like to know how they are allowed to do this. It seems a bit one sided to me.

What is your solution? Do you want British Gas to run at a loss and go bankrupt? You do understand that a business is a business and not a social charity? Why should a business not change their prices in anticipation of and in reaction to analyses? In what way is it 'one sided'? Are you suggesting that British Gas should haggle with individual customers?

Mazio_2

sjcrompo wrote: »

Hi first post here so here goes.

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from British Gas explaining how times were hard in the fuel industry and that they had no option other than to increase my duel fuel bill by 7%. The very next day it is announced that they had made record profits of 29% somewhere in the region of 750 million pounds.

I'd like to know how they are allowed to do this. It seems a bit one sided to me.

Thanks

Steve

The energy companies have to make a profit true but they are also paying shareholders and bonuses for management ontop of this they need to upgrade the infrastucture (new nuclear power stations) and green energy as well coupled with normal fuel increases so this has to be paid by the consumer and they hide this in the complex pricing structure.

isihac_2

Competition between energy companies - it's a joke!

We're all encouraged to switch suppliers, but a key reason why this is necessary is I believe more to do with the fact that they indulge in what Vince Cable MP called "socially useless activity" rather than looking after their existing customers. As an example I am in the process of ditching EDF, as my online deal ended and I was automatically swapped onto their standard tariff. HOWEVER, when I looked at their website I discovered that the best replacement online deal was only available to NEW customers! I doubt they're alone in doing this, so it it means that they're relying on customers' inertia to rake in the money. This is from a company that is supposed to be one of the better ones on customer service!

One other point - if you're on a fixed direct debit payment deal, the trend seems to be to implement a review of the account round about this time of year. They usually push for an increase in the payment then, meaning that during the summer months they're getting a tidy sum of cash which is not costing them a penny in interest! They argue that 'customers like to make sure they have a cushion against the cost of higher usage during the winter' . Well some people might, but I'm not one of them. I don't expect the supplier to fund my cash flow, but I sure as hell don't see why I should fund theirs!.

Red_sky

F.A.O. Alistair Buchanan, Chief Executive, OFGEM

Dear Mr Buchanan

Why on earth has it taken you and your organisation so long to realise we are being ripped off by the big 6 energy companies???

This has been going on for absolutely years and most noticeably since the big price hikes of 2008 and before. Why has it taken you and your organisation so long to realise this???

All you had to do was check their huge increases in profits each year in relation to their huge price increases every year and lower wholesale costs.

Since then you have done very little about it. These big foreign owned companies should be issued with a big fine which equates to their huge increases in profits for anti-competiveness and for price fixing, each one increasing their prices one after the other and none of them offering price decreases relative to when wholesale costs come down.

They should be made to reduce their prices back to where they should be in line with wholesale costs.

These big companies just make fools of you and your organisation. How much longer before you do something about their ever increasing prices and percentage rises in comparison to the decrease in wholesale costs and the rising percentage in the difference between them ie. their increased profits.

How many more old people have to die in the winter months because they are too afraid/can't afford to keep themsleves warm because of your lack of action and becuase of all the costly price increases by the 6 big energy companies most noticeably over the last 3 years.

How many more years and more costly reviews before you take some action. Wise up and take some action NOW! Stop letting them make fools of you and your organisation.

Red_sky

sjcrompo wrote: »

Hi first post here so here goes.

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from British Gas explaining how times were hard in the fuel industry and that they had no option other than to increase my duel fuel bill by 7%. The very next day it is announced that they had made record profits of 29% somewhere in the region of 750 million pounds.

I'd like to know how they are allowed to do this. It seems a bit one sided to me.

Thanks

Steve

Hi Steve

Re. BG's letter, it's quite simple, it's called !!!!!!!! or if you want to be more polite, just plain lies. All they're doing is increasing their prices to increase their profits and OFGEM does absolutely nothing to stop them.