Gas & Electricity regulators?

[Deleted User]

Does anyone else feel the alleged regulators of the gas and electricity industry are a complete waste of time, money and energy due to the inability really to affect anything at all? 

SASSENACH98

NO. after listening to radio 4 yesterday, they are doing their best for the consumer. They cannot control global prices !  just be be more frugal. tighten your belt one more knotch . ive just had my yearly summary from Shell Energy.. £467, all electric.. im aim to get it lower. !! im glad my tariff is fixed for another year though.

jimjames

SASSENACH98 said:

NO. after listening to radio 4 yesterday, they are doing their best for the consumer. They cannot control global prices 

Not strictly true. Although prices globally have risen we have been far more exposed because we have no storage anymore. The government and regulator could have taken action about the closure below and were warned that prices would be more volatile. That's exactly what has happened. 

 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/20/uk-gas-storage-prices-rough-british-gas-centrica

[Deleted User]

A complete waste of time an energy they really are in my humble view but what do I know 

Gerry1

ALL the so-called regulators are useless. They are far too close to the industry they are supposed to regulate: they've probably come from it and will one day go back to it.  They certainly don't see things from the consumer's perspective.

Ofgem can't even stop many energy companies giving fraudulent quotations for people on Economy 7: they don't ask for the day and night readings (or ignore them) so the actual cost will be much greater than they claim.  Ofgem have known about this for several years but have chosen to do absolutely nothing.

MattMattMattUK

billydeardan said:

Does anyone else feel the alleged regulators of the gas and electricity industry are a complete waste of time, money and energy due to the inability really to affect anything at all? 

How do you expect them to solve the problem of huge wholesale gas prices and what amounts to a global shortage of supply?

phillw

billydeardan said:

Does anyone else feel the alleged regulators of the gas and electricity industry are a complete waste of time, money and energy due to the inability really to affect anything at all? 

They are not a waste of time just because they can't stop companies going bankrupt.
Police aren't a waste of time just because they don't catch all criminals.
Condoms aren't a waste of time just because they don't always work.

[Deleted User]

Ofgem is putting a lot of faith in a system that was designed for the failure of the occasional supplier. Based on previous supplier failures, the system is going to be stress-tested in a way that was never envisaged.