MSE News: Which? launches collective energy switching campaign

Former_MSE_Helen

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Households that want to switch energy deal can register with the lobby group, which will negotiate a collective tariff ..."

Read the full story:
Which? launches collective energy switching campaign

Rupert_Bear

Brilliant idea but has to compensate me for the goodies you get from price comparison sites by switching.

VT82

MSE_Helen wrote: »

Which? estimates consumers collectively pay £4.1 billion a year more than they need to by not switching to the cheapest deal.

And if switching increases to being 100% of the population, it won't be the case that the UK's energy bill suddenly drops by £4.1bn, it will just be redistributed, and will probably go up as they'll need twice as many staff in all the departments dealing with switching, and these will need to be paid for.

In an oligopoly like the energy market, companies are allowed, and are expected, to differentiate themselves with advertising, customer service, incentive schemes etc. I don't see much wrong with the current model (apart from how high prices in general are!).

Lifes_Grand_Plan

Tie ins are the big problem and something that the government, MSE and Which? should be working on...

Tie-ins are done for one reason only and that is to stop people moving to more competitive suppliers further down the line.

Rupert Bear makes a very good point too. I can't see the Which? idea working, although its great that they are trying.

Antispam

I agree tie ins are uncompetitive practice which many companies employ not just energy industry

Lifes_Grand_Plan wrote: »

Tie ins are the big problem and something that the government, MSE and Which? should be working on...

Tie-ins are done for one reason only and that is to stop people moving to more competitive suppliers further down the line.

dtaylor84

This just reminds me of the "Pipeline" card for collective purchasing discounts on fuel. Which was more a pipe-dream than anything.

Actually, I'm suspicious the whole thing was just a ruse to get a bunch of email addresses to spam with (un)"related" offerings.

Whilst I hope Which? (and indeed MSE if they get involved) wouldn't be that underhand, I still have my doubts that it will be able to achieve anything useful.

shiny76

Can't see it ever happening but this 'reverse auction' would be great if we could get it on a per customer/consumer basis. People could enter the latest meter readings and suppliers bid for the custom.

Pincher

I see a Heinz tin marked worm spaghetti.

They have better line up thousands of call centre staff to deal with all the complacent and lazy queries from people who didn't bother reading the offer, and expect to be spoon fed the deal, and then fail to grasp anything other than they will save money.

During the switch, they will ring up for help with every conceivable and inconceivable obstacle. Once switched, they will complain about every little thing, from inaccessible meter to higher than before direct debits.

Three months into the deal, oil price collapses, energy market tumbles, and the utilities come out with better offers, and the Which deal becomes way too expensive. Does Which have to honour a bulk deal even though the fickle householder is slipping away? Will Which be collectively sued for trapping thousands in an uncompetitive deal?

VoucherMan

I can see this being another 'victim of it's own success'

All those who previously 'couldn't be bothered' may now start getting cheaper energy.

But unless we're naively expecting the energy companies to take a cut in profits it can only mean that those who regularly search out the best deals will end up paying more, as those deals will no longer be available.

Ken68

I have been earning 20% p.a from cashbackering (low user).
Doubt Which could match that.

Le73Uq86Uv

What do you have to lose?

Sign up and see where it goes.

But I had the same idea a few weeks back.