Ebico to close in January? - SLC 31D

cally6008

I sent Ebico a message about this, on facebook, and asked what was happening

Their reply is

Ebico Ltd
What you’re referring to is an extract of a letter our MD sent to Ofgem earlier this year. I’m really glad to say that Ofgem has responded very positively to his letter and we understand that they are going to enable ‘white label’ tariffs, such as EquiGas/EquiPower to continue after the end of this year on an enduring basis. This is really good news for all our customers, and we’ll be saying more about it when Ofgem have made their plans public.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

cally6008 wrote: »

I sent Ebico a message about this, on facebook, and asked what was happening

Their reply is

Then what's the point in restricting suppliers to 4 tariffs each? We may as well go back to where we were!

Bark01

Well the objectives of RRM were Simpler, Fairer, Clearer and I don’t think this muddies the water too much. Ebicos offering is clearly unique and distinctive from the crowd. It gives a choice that is distinctly lacking from other white labels. In the past something like the BG/Sainsburys white label may have had marginally different prices but typical bills were in the same ballpark so there wasn’t a distinct choice it was all just branding.

What Ofgem have attempted to do is create a level playing field and then look at exceptions case by case. In the past the market seemed to be, act first then wait for regulation to catch up. This is why we’ve seen things like OVO’s interest on credit rebate get through. Ofgem are right to say hang on that’s something new, you are not allowed to do that unless we say so, investigate what is proposed and then allow it if it’s in the customers interest.

As Ebico are aimed at a corner of the market that is under represented (low consuming/prepayment customers) they offer a choice which is good for the market.

I personally don’t see anything wrong with this approach.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

BG are currently offering 7 tariffs using the white label workaround, so clearly judging the exceptions on a case by case basis isn't working. If have a rule you need to enforce it, otherwise companies will circumvent to their own benefit as we're already seeing.

Ebico admitted in their letter to OFGEM that the starting capital they would need is only £750k, so why not just raise that and be done with it? Or is it, as I've long suspected, it's just an opportunity for SSE to further their market penetration.