Switching.

ariarnia

EssexHebridean said:

The problem is - that last paragraph is incredibly divisive isn’t it.

As far as I can see the majority of consumers in the U.K. didn’t not have the opportunity to switch supplier and benefit from cheaper prices. We’ve seen posters on here previously complaining that “they never switched ...

And as members on a money saving forum, should we be applauding those who never made efforts to save money in a perfectly legitimate way anyway?  

are they two differnt things?

i think the majority of consumers/households did have the oppertunity. but the majority didn't switch (which was why the gov brought in the cap for people who just sat on the variable rate).  maybe because energy was cheap and they didn't see the point. 

there will be some (a small number) who couldn't or didn't switch for a reason thats not 'effort'. because there energy is communal or they have an archaic tarrif/set up or they can't pay off the debt they need to change supplier or some vulnerability or disability meaning it was harder for them to use the quick and easy online comparison tools. 

and for what its worth i dont think it was the 'free market' or incentives or 'not hedging' that's the biggest cause of this problem. the number of customers on fixes and the cost of supplying them was info the supplier could use to plan and a company the size of bulb wouldn't have gone under because of a minority of customers on below market rate fixes. 

the thing i blame for the waves of companies that crashed was the artificial cap set by the government/ofgem which meant that energy companies couldn't vary the rates charged to the majority of their customer base. that led to huge numbers of customers suddenly needing a new supplier and the solr costs. that and the government actively choosing to let smaller suppliers fail and their ridiculously short term handing of bulb. 

EssexHebridean

Para 3 @ariarnia - absolutely - it’s why I made definite I was talking about the majority- there will definitely have been some who genuinely couldn’t. As you say - communal supplies, plus I was also considering those who simply didn’t have the capacity, because as lovely as it would be to think that those people have those looking out for them who would take responsibility, in many cases that will not have been what happened.

I agree about the cap in theory too, but as a regular on the DFW board, I’m also flinching slightly at the harm that would have been caused by the cap not having been in place, too.

The cap is there for exactly the same reasons as the rail ticket restructure which now means that those of us who used to be able to get budget friendly rail travel now often can’t, occurred, it was - IMO - for the most part down to picking up after apathy. Not in all cases, certainly, but in an awful lot of them. 

ariarnia

EssexHebridean said:

Para 3 @ariarnia - absolutely - it’s why I made definite I was talking about the majority- there will definitely have been some who genuinely couldn’t. As you say - communal supplies, plus I was also considering those who simply didn’t have the capacity, because as lovely as it would be to think that those people have those looking out for them who would take responsibility, in many cases that will not have been what happened.

I agree about the cap in theory too, but as a regular on the DFW board, I’m also flinching slightly at the harm that would have been caused by the cap not having been in place, too.

The cap is there for exactly the same reasons as the rail ticket restructure which now means that those of us who used to be able to get budget friendly rail travel now often can’t, occurred, it was - IMO - for the most part down to picking up after apathy. Not in all cases, certainly, but in an awful lot of them. 

not that im in charge but i would say thats the role of the social tariffs.

benifits as eligablity isnt the best way to target all who struggle but nothing saying it couldnt include a set level of debt for a set amount of time as part of the debt recovery process 

EssexHebridean

It’s a huge concern isn’t it - the increase in debt among those who wouldn’t appear to be the usual demographic for “problem debt” is huge, the various BNPL organisations plus the likes of PayPal credit are hugely to blame IMO.