Existing energy customers barred from cheapest deals

katejo

SailorSam wrote: »

Did you listen to Moneybox R4 at lunchtime ? This was the main subject on the programme. The guy from one of the energy companies, was trying to justify it by saying the same thing happens in other industries, notably with Insurance firms.

But with insurance, you can usually pretend to be a new customer and not renew the old policy. The energy suppliers appear to block this as far as i can see by not showing you the lower tariff if you are with them already.

bumpercars99

katejo wrote: »

But with insurance, you can usually pretend to be a new customer and not renew the old policy. The energy suppliers appear to block this as far as i can see by not showing you the lower tariff if you are with them already.

Agreed absolutely not the same situation as insurance.

I'd have said the insurance industry was similar to energy before these exclusive tariffs in that renewals/autorenewals are onto non-prime rates/tariffs but a motivated customer can seek out enhanced rates even from the same supplier.

It is also clearly less disruptive to change insurer than it is to switch energy supplier, which if it doesn't go 100% smoothly can create a significant administrative burden.

bumpercars99

SailorSam wrote: »

Did you listen to Moneybox R4 at lunchtime ? This was the main subject on the programme. The guy from one of the energy companies, was trying to justify it by saying the same thing happens in other industries, notably with Insurance firms.

Did you happen to catch what supplier they were from?

"Someone else does the same/something worse" must be about the worst defence there is, did the presenter pull them up on it?

Micron

bumpercars99 wrote: »

Did you happen to catch what supplier they were from?

The Radio 4 Moneybox program has been referred to in the Daily Mail, from reading the article it looks like it could have been an SSE spokesman that made the comments on air but EDF and E.on also defend their new customers only tariffs.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3817723/Energy-firms-pull-plug-best-deals-loyal-customers-try-lure-people-old-provider.html

redux

It seems that some energy companies are mainly competitive in collective deals, and not so much the rest of the time

For instance, in the intervals between MSE CEC deals, sometimes the supplier of the most recent one can be seen £150 a year or more higher on a later tariff.

Thus some CEC fans are perhaps only picking a new deal once a year, whereas in a time of falling prices, such as we had for 2 or 3 years until a few months ago, it should have been worth changing more often if a firm would stay competitive.

vicks11

Micron wrote: »

The Radio 4 Moneybox program has been referred to in the Daily Mail, from reading the article it looks like it could have been an SSE spokesman that made the comments on air but EDF and E.on also defend their new customers only tariffs.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3817723/Energy-firms-pull-plug-best-deals-loyal-customers-try-lure-people-old-provider.html

I listened to the radio 4 moneybox program and am sure it was the head of Ofgem that was speaking, I remember being quite shocked as I thought he was meant to be regulating this kind of thing but instead he was approving it.

The presenter at one point mentioned to him that the process was getting too complex but he said this was a good thing as it creates more competition so the customer has the advantage, however this seems to go against the government idea of making the energy market less complicated!

Smodlet

vicks11 wrote: »

I listened to the radio 4 moneybox program and am sure it was the head of Ofgem that was speaking, I remember being quite shocked as I thought he was meant to be regulating this kind of thing but instead he was approving it.

The presenter at one point mentioned to him that the process was getting too complex but he said this was a good thing as it creates more competition so the customer has the advantage, however this seems to go against the government idea of making the energy market less complicated!

This would seem consistent with OfWat's BS about giving customers "choice" regarding to which water company they pay their bill, whilst "bundling" water supply with that of broadband, fgs. Give me strength.

It will not alter the fact that those in more expensive regions (Wessex Water, Anglian Water, for example) will still pay more than those in cheaper regions. It is purely an admin thing. It's all a conspiracy to screw yet more money out of us to feed the fat cats' bonuses, imho.

bumpercars99

Policy direction is ridiculous. It seems clear to me that the situation was better before when the tariffs were more "complex". Who cares how complex the underlying tariff is if you can use any comparison site and be told the most suitable one. Reducing the complexity of tariffs is a total red herring, but it's easy to get public support for it because it sounds like a good thing. Ask any focus group "should energy tariffs be less complex?" and there's only really one answer.

However, removing tariffs actually works against most people's interests. I cringe everytime I hear people suggesting each supplier has only one tariff, which is a line I'm sure I've heard from that Moneybox guy before, because if you're not a fairly "average" user of energy, you're likely to get stiffed by this.

Having to perform comparisons between comparison sites for exclusive tariffs is a ridiculous waste of time and energy. I also am sure I heard rumblings that the requirement to list tariffs unavailable for direct switching on the comparison site was to be removed which will be another inconvenience for the consumer - seems designed as blackmail to get these suppliers to pay commissions to get relisted - money for these to be added to customer's bills.

Micron

vicks11 wrote: »

I listened to the radio 4 moneybox program and am sure it was the head of Ofgem that was speaking,

You are correct vicks11 it was Ofgem CEO Dermot Nolan that was defending the new customers only tariffs.
I listened to the program on the BBC website, anyone who hasn't yet heard the piece from Radio 4 Moneybox should give it a listen the discussion gets quite heated.

molerat

I suppose it will drive customers switching companies which will be able to produce a headline of what OFGEM has achieved. If these customers then save money it is another OFGEM achievement. The fact that many who currently save will then pay more will be ignored and OFGEM will have achieved its goal of encouraging customers to switch without costing the energy companies a great deal in lost revenue.