MSE News: David Cameron: law will force energy firms to offer cheapest deals

WTPooh

Standard User Price - Guideline Annual fee.
There should be a standard user price advertised for every tariff published.

Worked out and regulated in the same way that MPG figures for new cars have to be published. I.e. a standard usage annual cycle and amount of fuel used - set by the goverment.

The usage cycle should be government defined, following the winter/summer fuel demand and sized for whatever is considered a "typical house" or for example a 4kWh annual use of electricity, and say 8kWh of gas. i.e. an Annual bill. (There is no need to go into derivations of how the house uses the energy - that is an unecessary complication - just one number £ is required).

Then all the tarrifs would be able to post an equitable annual price for a typical household use for that fuel type - enabling us to compare all of them quickly and easily. We would then have a baseline which we could build into our purchase decision.
As it is we have no guideline and a marketing maze.

This type of standardisation guide exists for the economy of cars, fridges, cookers and freezers, dishwashers and boilers because they all use energy. There is no reason why it can't be applied to gas and electricity tariffs but spelt out in plain £pounds and pence.

Thoughts please !

Cardew

WTPooh wrote: »

Thoughts please !

Those of us who take an interest in these matters, can find out all the information we need, for our circumstances, from the comparison websites; albeit it is an ever changing scenario.

Those who currently cannot, or will not, take an interest in obtaining the best deal for themselves would not be any better off with your suggested procedure.

IMO there are far too many variables for a single figure to be of any relevance.

Size of property, No of people in property, insulation standards, lifestyle(at work or home all day) boiler efficiency are just some of the variables.

Then how do you cater for oil/LPG/Solid fuel CH, log burners, ASHP/GSHP, open fires, all electric, storage heaters Economy 7

Then I suggest there is a huge difference in heating requirements between say NE Scotland and Cornwall.

grahamc2003

WTPooh wrote: »

Standard User Price - Guideline Annual fee.

The usage cycle should be government defined, following the winter/summer fuel demand and sized for whatever is considered a "typical house" or for example a 4kWh annual use of electricity, and say 8kWh of gas. i.e. an Annual bill. (There is no need to go into derivations of how the house uses the energy - that is an unecessary complication - just one number £ is required).



Thoughts please !

Even allowing for the deccs call for more efficency measures, I think 4kWh per year is a little on the low side. It would result in annual electricity bills of about 47p. You didn't hear those annual usage figures from Cameron did you?

Cardew

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Even allowing for the deccs call for more efficency measures, I think 4kWh per year is a little on the low side. It would result in annual electricity bills of about 47p. You didn't hear those annual usage figures from Cameron did you?

That is for houses with solar PV and electricity meters running backwards.

Cameron uses a Windsave turbine, so is an expert!

WTPooh

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Even allowing for the deccs call for more efficency measures, I think 4kWh per year is a little on the low side.

Youre right - I meand 4k kWh - too many k's

To the other point that one value would be too simple for everyone in all geographys. The same argument applies to the MPG calculations. Of course it's not going to cover every flavour, but - it would put a stick in the mud from which everyone can then pull in their particular direction.

rogerblack

spiro wrote: »

In this country I suspect it would cut most peoples bills if suppliers were allowed to cut you off as soon as you dont pay your bill like they do in most other countries. Likewise we are one of only about three countries that offer PPM meters and recovering a £500 debt at £3.50pw and therefore giving the customer a 2.75yr interest loan helps no one except the small minority.

Consequences...
Increased hardship loans, and use of emergency lenders - having people hit up Wonga to pay for arrears, or have their children freeze.
Or social services taking lots of kids into care.
Probably increased fires, as people try to use fireplaces that haven't been used in decades, and may be in disrepair, and people using candles or other sources of light.

Actual figures.
http://www.channel4.com/news/fewer-people-in-debt-to-energy-companies - 478M.

The interest on this, over 3 years is about 40 million pounds.
Or about a pound an electricity customer.

However.
This neglects the fact you can't properly do the above calculation without offsetting the credit balances, so it's going to be significantly less than a pound.

This is utterly dwarfed by FIT at around a fiver, and the basic rise in cost.

YorksClare

The reason people don't like switching is that it is such a nuisance to have to switch everything every year. My bank reduces the interest on my so-called long term savings account from about 3% p.a. to 0.1% after 12 months, and so I am supposed to switch that. My car insurance renewal is never very competitive unless I phone them each year and say "I can do far better elsewhere - sort it out". Ditto my home insurance, holiday insurance, pet insurance, electricity price, gas price (if I had it) - why should I have to mess about so much?

That is probably what prompted this move from the government. I think that it is only fair that there are fewer tariffs with a real reason for the differences (like having E7 or E10, or running a business from home, etc).

There is no need for umpteen different prices per supplier, except to take advantage of people who cannot get on the internet, cannot choose a different payment method (such as being stuck on a pre-payment meter), or get to grips with the minefield that is utility pricing.

baby_boomer

MillicentBystander wrote: »

He's a genius at such things. Will go down in history as a disastrous PM.

How did someone who got a 1st in PPE at Oxford get himself into this unholy mess?

It's such a basic mistake that I worry about his state of mind.

jimjames

YorksClare wrote: »

The reason people don't like switching is that it is such a nuisance to have to switch everything every year.

The first switch is the one that will generally save most money. Yet I believe something like 60% of households have never switched. It really isnt difficult to do.

And if you don't want to switch savings there are accounts that pay less but don't drop after a year - an ideal choice if you don't want the hassle of switching. Horses for courses and the same should apply to energy rather than trying to force everyone down the same route.

MillicentBystander

baby_boomer wrote: »

How did someone who got a 1st in PPE at Oxford get himself into this unholy mess?

It's such a basic mistake that I worry about his state of mind.

Being academic and possessing basic common sense are often mutually exclusive occurrences.