MSE News: British Gas owner posts £1.3bn profit, so why the price hikes?

bengasman

MillicentBystander wrote: »

A bit of advice: when the likes of Cardew can beat you on an argument it's my contention that you should pack it in. You're clearly not cut out for this gas and electricity lark.

What is the key issue here: which company bought Ibeco first, or the fact that they are not the independent, genuine not-for-profit club that they once were? You sound like a council employee trying to reduce litter in the park whilst ignoring that the chavs burned the trees down.

eurmalian

bengasman wrote: »

What is the key issue here: which company bought Ibeco first, or the fact that they are not the independent, genuine not-for-profit club that they once were? You sound like a council employee trying to reduce litter in the park whilst ignoring that the chavs burned the trees down.

Have you actually bothered following any of the links that were posted? They weren't pointing out that someone else has bought Ebico, but that no one has. They're still an indipendent company, not owned by one of the big six.

They have a deal with Southern to use part of their infrastructure to manage accounts and such, but they're not owned by anyone except themselves.

bengasman

eurmalian wrote: »

They're still an indipendent company, not owned by one of the big six.

They may still be a company in their own right, but that does not mean the shares are privately owned.

They most certainly were bought up by one of the big boys. I remember very clearly because I was really miffed when I found out.
I tried to change to Ebico at that time, and BG were as awkward as they could be so it took ages to get the final bill sorted out. Ebico were bought during that period.

Have you tried finding something about Ebico's history using Google? It would be a bit naive to expect it to be prominently announced on their website.

eurmalian

Yup, had a bit of a trawl through. There is absolutely nothing I can find to suggest that Ebico have been bought by anyone. Feel free to correct me if you can find a site that says otherwise though.

Are you sure you didn't just get confused when they accepted SSE as the people they get their supply from and think that was them being bought out?

MillicentBystander

Why would one of the big boys buy a not for profit company? They aren't exactly known for their philanthropic nature.

eurmalian

Equally pertinent is why would a not for profit comany sell itself out to a large corporation? Again, it wouldn't make sense...

magyar

Since no-one has any evidence for this having happened (and I think it would have made the news) I suggest the speculation is rather pointless...

backfoot

What is more relevant is to understand the objectives of EBICO.

Yes, a not for profit organisation but built upon a model of one price for all. So a prepayment customer pays the same as direct debit customer. Any surplus profit is used to support specific fuel poverty trusts and agreements with social support groups.

Extremely laudible objectives alongside a push for green initiatives.

Of course, for it to work,as an exisitng DD customer or high energy user,you have to pay the additional cost to support the poorer end of the population. A sort of energy charity organisation.

If you don't then it's hard to see EBICO making many customer gains as the people searching out the cheaper comparison deal will not see EBICO high up their table.

The company works in partnership with SSE for billing and customer service functions but is independant in other respects.