Tories announce energy price rises for those who shop around to protect big business

mrginge

michaels wrote: »

Probably only 75% of them.

I thought we looked for equality of opportunity not equality of outcome.

So is it a problem or not?

BobQ

michaels wrote: »

Not at all mysupermarket.co.uk helps me plan what to get at each supermarket as I am passing.

I have switched energy suppliers multiple times in the same year (cashback helps) - lock-ins are not nearly as draconian as for example TV and phone providers.

And switching is a no brainer as just like phone companies and car insurers new customer rates are loss leaders. If BG are forced to make less profit on every non-switching customer then they won't be able to offer such good new customer deals as they would then not be profitable - so suddenly there would be much less reason to switch. And guess what if you make switching less attractive then companies will no longer have to compete as hard and there will not be so many new suppliers.

So basically restricting competition will actually lead to higher prices overall even if they are perhaps slightly more equal. This will be good news for the big suppliers with established customer bases as they won't have to offer lower prices to hold on to their customers or attract new ones. No wonder the politicians are in favour, helps them in their next move into the boardroom.

There speaks an internet savvy person with lots of spare time so they can visit 4 supermarkets a week, a car so they do not have to rely on deliveries, is fit enough to walk down 4 sets of supermarket aisles a week etc:)

Of course when a Tory PM steals the policy from a past Labour manifesto, they are probably going to engineer a better deal for their friends and not help the vulnerable people they claim to be helping.

The lazy do not deserve our sympathy for paying more, but what do we do to help the vulnerable some of whom are still get their gas from British Gas and their electricity from Southern Electric because they do not know how to change? Do we just accept they are the casualties of a price war?

wotsthat

mrginge wrote: »

Very good.
How do you believe we should address the issue of two thirds of people being on the most expensive standard tariffs?

Or is it not a problem and all those people are simply lazy idiots?

I've already addressed this. If anyone gives a monkeys they should help the elderly and infirm. Me paying more won't help them one iota as you'd remind me if this was a labour idea.

There's very little reason for two thirds of people to be on the most expensive tariffs other than by choice. I think it's fair to assume they can't be bothered or the sums of money are inconsequential to them.

seven-day-weekend

I noticed on my supplier's website (Sainsbury's Energy, aka British Gas), that those consumers NOT on dual fuel have no choice at all - standard tarriff or nothing.

I also helped an elderly lady on electricity only check through energy suppliers - the letter hers had sent her made no sense, so I suggested she sorted that out first. In the end, her existing supplier offered the best deal for her.

On the whole, after any introductory offers, the only reason to change is customer service. Same energy, same pipes/wires, as someone has mentioned above.

BobQ

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I noticed on my supplier's website (Sainsbury's Energy, aka British Gas), that those consumers NOT on dual fuel have no choice at all - standard tarriff or nothing.

I also helped an elderly lady on electricity only check through energy suppliers - the letter hers had sent her made no sense, so I suggested she sorted that out first. In the end, her existing supplier offered the best deal for her.

On the whole, after any introductory offers, the only reason to change is customer service. Same energy, same pipes/wires, as someone has mentioned above.

You mean apart from the cost of the same energy?

seven-day-weekend

BobQ wrote: »

You mean apart from the cost of the same energy?

I think that if one changes their price, upwards or downwards, others follow, it works out not much different in the end. The lady I've been helping changed to her current supplier because it promised to save her 100s a year - it did, for a year, inasmuch as her direct debit went down - they have now just increased it by 50% because it did not cover her consumption, so she will end paying as much as she did originally.