Petition to regulate energy price rises

Terrylw1

Personally I think people always concentrate on wholesale prices and thats only part of the equation.

Some utilities are poorly run with more staff than they need because they are only interested in short term gain. So, you get a culture of middle managers only trying to handle their own areas and no consideration is ever given to improvements that can substantially bring down operating costs.

Also, what you get billed multiplied against the whole customer base it not completely representative to what they buy on your behalf. It's very well known inside the industry that Suppliers have so many data errors that they are overpaying in some ways and underpaying in others. Npower got slapped with a £2m shortfall which they had no budget for a few years back from NEDL/YEDL.

There are also calculations in place which show gross overpayment per old board region. You would be surprised how much Suppliers are out by.

Mazio_2

This is why we need protection
This is taken from headline on the web

British Gas is set to announce £800million profits for 2007 - 800 per cent up on the previous year.

Energywatch boss Allan Asher said: "These profits show the price rises are unjustified and inflicting considerable pain on consumers, especially those who can least afford it.

How the profits add up

British Gas (Centrica) £800m (up £705m)

Scottish & Southern Energy £1.2bn (up £440m)

Powergen (E-on) £750m (up £150m)

Npower (RWE) £500m (up £117m)

Edf £900m (down £32m)

Scottish Power (Iberdrola) £750m (down £150m)

sav_c

Well there seems to be a lot of backlash against my petition request. Some of the arguments being used are just unbelievable. Yes, wholesale prices have gone up recently. Yes all the 6 major suppliers did put their price down last year.

What no one mentioned was that the suppliers spent a year watching wholesale prices fall before they acted on a cut. NPower held on for 16 months before they cut (announced it about February and didn't reduce until May I seem to recall). If they weren't profiteering they'd have reduced rates as quickly as they raised them. Their profits would not have been diminished - only kept in line.

Ofgem is a joke. I don't remember them ever stepping in and doing anything about high price rises or customer well being. NPower is reported to have the highest cut off rates for non-payment. What has Ofgem done about that? Have they investigated whether the people being cut off are just thieves or people genuinely struggling to pay their inflated fuel bills?

Thanks to everyone who's signed the petition. It may not achieve a regulation of prices, but at least it potentially raises awareness. To those who slagged the idea off, what do you suggest? Should we just sit back and pay up like we normally do? It's no wonder Britain is referred to as Treasure Island by most big businesses.

Ken68

You done good Sav...don't think the Ofgem mandarins are quite up to taking on dedicated profit makers. It's sharks versus minnows.
The little fish need to get orf their index linked rs's.

70ian

Energy prices are not regulated in Great Britain. Price controls were removed by Ofgem in February 2002. Suppliers are now free to charge whatever price they like.

Ofgem does get notified by suppliers about any price increase, but only as a courtesy. It cannot prevent suppliers from levying price increases, as it gave up that power in 2002. The 'competitive market' is supposed to regulate the prices charged by suppliers.

Ofgem does still regulate the monopolies - gas transporters and electricity distributors - which are all subject to 5 year price controls.

Terrylw1

I think Energywatch will have more success than a petition. I'm not saying it's not a worthwhile thing to do but are these petitions looked at with interest by the Government? Do they care about a few people on a petition? We need more weight behind the case and a petition headed up by Energywatch would be taken seriously.

There are lots of additional factors in regard to cost and Ofgem are fully aware of those. They have been an issue since market start up and they have improved but still have a long way to go.

Why don't you contact Energywatch and see if they would be willing to sponsor your petition? They can put the required weight behind it. Thats my suggestion.

P.S. Ofgem are and have been a joke for a long time. Energywatch were also a big joke until a few years back when they tightened up. Ofgem have been letting Suppliers get away with conning customers on other costs due to a lack of control. Some of those areas are still no better.

Mazio_2

sav_c I think Terryw1 has a good idea and I will back your petition. If you dont want to I will see what Energywatch can do.

Terrylw1

70ian wrote: »

Energy prices are not regulated in Great Britain. Price controls were removed by Ofgem in February 2002. Suppliers are now free to charge whatever price they like.

Ofgem does get notified by suppliers about any price increase, but only as a courtesy. It cannot prevent suppliers from levying price increases, as it gave up that power in 2002. The 'competitive market' is supposed to regulate the prices charged by suppliers.

Ofgem does still regulate the monopolies - gas transporters and electricity distributors - which are all subject to 5 year price controls.

Ofgem specifically regulates those businesses that cannot be opened up to competition, or where competition is not yet established, such as gas and electricity transmission systems and electricity distribution networks. To protect consumers from unfair pricing by these monopolies, Ofgem sets price controls. Over the past three years, price controls have reduced customers’ bills by over £1 billion per year.


http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file32549.pdf


The government has specific targets to tackle fuel poverty so Suppliers cannot disadvantage that plan. So whilst it may not be direct, there are some controls that prevent them doing whatever they like.

Spark

I did sign the petition just now. At least it's a start.
Good luck with it.

Ice_2

I signed great idea OP well done you:A about time we stood up to them after all it's our money that keeps them in there jobs:mad:...it takes the biscuit nowadays how so many things are on the up instead of going down RIP OFF BRITAIN that's what it is...:mad: