MSE News: Consumer groups urge action on energy prices at summit

chris1973

Volker Beckers, Npower chief executive, says: "I know people want certainty on energy prices, so we will freeze the prices for all of our customers on standard residential tariffs for the coming winter.

Easy to say just a couple of weeks AFTER you increase your prices. What would have been better would be to stand out by leading by a strong example and in being unique in not following the herd and not inflicting the recent rises on your customers at all.

Npower of course, also being one of the few energy companies left who actively charge, or should I say penalise, pre-pay customers more per KW/H than regular credit customers. A Victorian approach from a company still stuck in the dark ages. Wow, Volker what a guy!.

But since i'm already currently paying almost 19p Per KW/H peak rate on Npowers pre-payment E7 tariff, i've turned the heating off and the paraffin heater on and Volker can go P*ss up a rope (or ideally, a pylon)

Dave_save

Latest score: Utilty Companies 1 UK Government 0

Own goal scored by Dave Cameron

Butterfly_Brain

chris1973 wrote: »

Easy to say just a couple of weeks AFTER you increase your prices. What would have been better would be to stand out by being unique in not following the herd and not inflicting the recent rises on your customers at all.

But since i'm currently paying almost 19p Per KW/H on Npowers pre-payment E7 tariff, i've turned the heating off and the paraffin heater on and Volker can go P*ss up a rope or ideally a pylon

I wish they all would - these people won't go cold this winter but hundreds of thousands of the least well off in this country will.
We have decided to get the gas central heating taken out and we will replace it with a wood burning stove with back boiler and sod it if it is a smokeless zone or not

wozearly

chris1973 wrote: »

Easy to say just a couple of weeks AFTER you increase your prices. What would have been better would be to stand out by leading by a strong example and in being unique in not following the herd and not inflicting the recent rises on your customers at all.

True, but only if you received a significant amount of customers switching to you that would replace the profit you lost via making a moral stand. Your own customers would benefit, but its hard to imagine they'd become any more loyal as a result.

Given the low switch rates in the market, and the focus on ensuring healthy profits for shareholders, I can understand why they're reluctant to try that approach.

Completely agree that promising to hold your prices for a few months just after a major rise isn't much of a promise. Nor is slapping on the caveat that this will only apply to standard tariffs (although, in fairness, that does represent the vast majority of people).

moonrakerz

The fact that is ignored in all the rubbish that is talked about UK energy prices is that UK Gas and Electricity prices ARE CHEAPER than much of Europe !

Energy companies (in fact ALL companies) have a legal duty to act to the best benefit of their shareholders - NOT their customers. That means making as much profit as they can.
The biggest fault in the UK system is the myriad of pricing systems offered by each company. This probably means that the majority of customers are not on the cheapest deal offered by their supplier. THAT should be the first thing to be sorted out.

The stupid cries for cheaper energy prices are about as likely to be met as asking for water to flow uphill ! We in the UK are competing in a world market against the likes of China/India/Brazil whose economies are booming - like certain football clubs they can meet any price asked !!

Don't forget also that a growing proportion of the price we pay is accounted for Government imposed charges to subsidise so-called "renewables". A reasonable price reduction would be immediately produced if many of these crackpot schemes were done away with.

2sides2everystory

moonrakerz wrote: »

The fact that is ignored in all the rubbish that is talked about UK energy prices is that UK Gas and Electricity prices ARE CHEAPER than much of Europe !

Per kWh ? Are you sure ?

The stupid cries for cheaper energy prices are about as likely to be met as asking for water to flow uphill !

That's not such a stupid idea with regard to hot water. The government allows tax relief on hybrid road vehicles which go up hills and also legislates to require other road vehicles to satisfy emissions regulations - all in the name of energy efficiency and generally green consumption. So how about the government doing something big and requiring all new housing developments to utilise district heating schemes which do away with the need for inefficient central heating and hot water boilers in every home and instead take advantage of technologies which can convert 90%+ of available energy in the fuels used in district power stations into usable energy, delivering it to homes as metered hot water at a constant temperature and recycling the cooler but still warm water emitted from domestic heating systems linked up to such a system?

That would bust a few cartels at a stroke, but will it happen ? Nope. Cameron hasn't the b¤lls.

dunloadin

How about using a bit of consumer power?

Get a campaign set up to make, say, the 3rd week in Jan 2012 a 'national energy switch week'....couple of million consumers switch to the same cheapest supplier; this will force the others to lower prices further to compete, that or go bust. The supplier with millions to loose will have to lower their prices or risk losing all their customers at the next 'national energy switch week' held 2 months later etc etc.

If everyone actually got organised this could work.....never underestimate the power a co-ordinated consumer can wield.

After all the mantra chanted by the government is to switch....anyone up for it?

tagq2

Problem: privatised(*) essential service forming user-facing division of natural monopoly;

Solution: spend citizens' money writing to them to engage in non-productive activity of selecting which organisation prints out their bill and collects absurdly high fee for doing so.

(*) From the UK PoV. France is less stupid and still owns most of EDF.

Yolina

dunloadin wrote: »

standard tariffs are more expensive as they are the 'base' tariff, the cynic in me says they are there for the apathetic and the 'been with the company for years' brigade.

Not necessarily the case - went back to a standard tariff quite a while back for my gas because for me it works out cheaper... Scottish Power used to give a £100 discount for prompt payment on their standard tariff (unfortunately reduced to £45, so I went to Ebico) and I do prefer to pay quarterly for gas that I've actually used.

dual fuel deals are probably best avoided.....I find what you gain with one you lose with the other, and more can be saved than the discount advantage offered.

Yep, I'm with you on that, cheapest for me was to go with different providers, last time I had a dual-fuel deal was probably 5 years ago! I guess many people just assume that dual-fuel is automatically going to be cheaper and don't bother to check separately.

Edit: as for your "energy switch week" idea, it's quite good, however I've noticed (not being English but having lived here for nearly 20 years) that people in this country mostly won't bother... They'll grumble a lot but they won't do anything.

harz99

Wow what wonderful news to come from the much vaunted energy summit - consumers should switch!

So all the consumers and their concerns around the complexity and multitude of the available tariffs, which make it damn hard to switch are just brushed aside.

As are the comments from consumers about the patently unfair system of standing charges and high costs per unit for low consumption households - which OFGEM seems to be happy with.

Still we shouldn't be surprised by this from the millionaire Conservatives and their wannabe millionaire partners, 'cos it doesn't affect them does it!!