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

dunloadin

Yolina wrote: »

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.

Ah, you've spotted the achilles heel there.....maybe if we get Jordan, David Beckham and Lady Gaga on board, or whoever the next big thing is after Xmas. It's the unfortunate British malaise, everyone wants a piece of cake, but no-one wants to make it.

grizzly1911

harz99 wrote: »

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!!

And what does all this witching add to our bills, we have to pay for all the administration costs, cash back incentives through Moneysupermarket or whoever.

I switch annually, have done everything we can to increase efficiency and insulation, pay by MDDR (which I hate, never missed a qtrly payment in 20 years0 and it still goes up. What now:(

Pincher

So, E.On SaveOnline 9 will not be rising this winter. :j

What a peculiar tariff. It's effectively fixed until 1st April 2012 by this verbal promise. Another winter sorted.

I still pray that 1st November will bring a cheap FixOnline 10 that will fix at a good rate until 1st April 2013, based on the poor economic outlook, and hence lower demand on energy. As soon as I get my FixOnline 10, I will release an air of optimism, and get the economy back up.

chanz4

And whos going to pay for them writting to us, oh yeah thats us as well waste of money.

magyar

2sides2everystory wrote: »

Per kWh ? Are you sure ?

This is from a recent report published in Austria. I'm actually surprised JUST how much cheaper it all is here.

Butterfly_Brain

magyar wrote: »

This is from a recent report published in Austria. I'm actually surprised JUST how much cheaper it all is here.

The difference here is that wages are better, pensioners are treated better, benefits are higher and you get your pension at 60 (62) in France
The British people have been treated with contempt for too many years.

Cardew

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 !

2sides2everystory wrote: »

Per kWh ? Are you sure ?

.

Some statistics given above and here:

http://www.energy.eu/

Particularly for gas, we are much cheaper than most of the major countries in Europe; although it is pertinent to add that the fluctuating exchange rate against the Euro can change the comparisons.

JimmyTheWig

Am interested to know who this letter is going to be from and how it's going to be worded.
If I received a letter supposedly from the government telling me to do something I'd probably ignore it as some sort of scam.
Unless, of course, I'd heard that the letter was coming on the radio. In which case there's no need to send the letter!

And also, what are they going to tell people to do?
Are they going to recomend comparrison websites? Which ones?
What favours will these websites have to do to get on the list? That might answer someone's question about who is paying for the letters!

cactiphile71

Glad to know 'letters' will be sent wasting more of our money (who ever sends them we will be paying!).

The whole switching business makes me so angry because it is either a big joke or a scam.

I switched to Eon Saveonline6 in May - in four months they are now on saveonline10 tarrif . So to ensure I am getting the best deal with them I would have to check for changes every couple of weeks and switch over once a month. This is without even looking at other companies.

Now comparing rates - based on my usage both my gas and electricity went up 22% on Saveonline6 in that time - compared to
a quoted average of 12 and 18% where saveonline10 would only be a 12% overall rise. In otherwords all of the older tarrifs are supplementing the new ones (a difference of £130 in my case)

This new customer grabbing is just out of hand, how much does this cost in admin for the constant switching?

And the conclusion of the submit is to encourage more people to switch. Instead they ought to be hitting the companies with a large stick to ensure the same rates are given to ALL their customers without the need for constant tarrif switching with the only incentives allowed for direct debit payment or duel fuel where admin costs to the company are passed on.

I don't have a problem with the companies making a profit - thats what business does - I have a problem with the unfairness and jumping through hoops that the current system causes.

Joan49

What a waste of tax payers money. I wonder how much money was spent on the "summit" and how much is going to be wasted writing to thousands of people who are not going to be able to work out the best deal. MADNESS!!