Energy and competition

pqrdef

Hoopie1 wrote: »

That's the problem though, there is a lack of competition (that's the view of OFGEM, not me).

So what does OFGEM want exactly?

The paradox is, if the government is serious about solving our future electricity supply problems, it needs to move us away from flat rates to a much smarter system where the price of power varies continuously with supply and demand, and consumers have smart meters and smart appliances that regulate their demand according to price.

At present, the main reason electricity costs too much is because of the excess generating capacity we have to operate to cope with unregulated peaks in demand.

Hoopie1

pqrdef wrote: »

So what does OFGEM want exactly?

The paradox is, if the government is serious about solving our future electricity supply problems, it needs to move us away from flat rates to a much smarter system where the price of power varies continuously with supply and demand, and consumers have smart meters and smart appliances that regulate their demand according to price.

At present, the main reason electricity costs too much is because of the excess generating capacity we have to operate to cope with unregulated peaks in demand.

OFGEM wants: simpler tariffs (and less of them), more competition, utilities to handle complaints better, I think they were also looking at getting generators to auction off a percentage of capacity (I assume to somehow encourage new entrants in the retail market). They also want prices to fall at the same rate as they rise when they wholesale market moves.

Is the last part really correct? We have a basic shortage of generation capacity in the country in general and things are going to get worse when phase III of the EU ETS comes in.

CLAPTON

pqrdef wrote: »

So what does OFGEM want exactly?

The paradox is, if the government is serious about solving our future electricity supply problems, it needs to move us away from flat rates to a much smarter system where the price of power varies continuously with supply and demand, and consumers have smart meters and smart appliances that regulate their demand according to price.

rephrasing that in English means

when it very very cold, the smart meter will cut you off to 'regulate' supply except for the richest customers of course

Hoopie1

CLAPTON wrote: »

rephrasing that in English means

when it very very cold, the smart meter will cut you off to 'regulate' supply except for the richest customers of course

That is simply not the case.

pqrdef

CLAPTON wrote: »

rephrasing that in English means

when it very very cold, the smart meter will cut you off to 'regulate' supply except for the richest customers of course

Well we aren't going to meet the targets for reducing energy consumption if we aren't going to ask questions about what temperatures we need to maintain in rooms that aren't used much.

CLAPTON

Hoopie1 wrote: »

That is simply not the case.

why do you say that?

vivatifosi

michaels wrote: »

And switching is not harder than changing mobile phone provider.

I'd add a caveat to that. Switching is not harder than changing mobile phone provider providing you are on a dual fuel tariff.

I have economy 10 and its nigh on impossible to change. AIUI there are only two providers anyway.

nickj_2

it is far too complicated with so many different tarrifs to chose from , you can never be certain that you are getting the best deal , too much smoke and mirrors
there should just be one fee per supplier and you pay for what you use ,

michaels

I thought the Which piece was a bit disingenuous - a phone enquiry was made which of course means some online tariffs are not available - online tariffs are likely to be cheaper as there is no need to employ telesales people.

And it is not hard to find out the cheapest tariff, there are umpteen websites that will do it for you based on total usage. Yes there is the question of whether a fixed tariff is better than a variable one but this is the same for mortgages or indeed the choice between a contract or payg mobile tariff. In fact until recently there was hardly any 'locking in' with switching fees and even now the highest lock in is about 51 quid - compare that to being locked in to a 24 month £50pm mobile tariff or a fixed rate mortgage with a 5% early redemption penalty which is a great deal as the supplier is running the risk when offering a fixed tariff.

I would agree that the question of whether there is real competition or the six big suppliers are operating a complex cartel but the market concentration is lower than for supermarkets or mobile phone operators.

TruckerT

There was a news item yesterday that 'Scottish and Southern' were going to put all their power up for auction

Q1 - who the hell is 'Scottish and Southern'
Q2 - will their decision have any effect at all on my fuel bills?
Q3 - why didn't the media bother to explain the implications of Scottish and Southern's decision - it is almost certainly a political decision, rather than a commercial decision
Q4 - who owns the power stations - if Scottish and Southern are power 'generators', where is their power generated?

TruckerT