MSE News: Smaller energy firms will have to give £140 discount to vulnerable customers

Former_MSE_Megan_F · 15 June 2018 at 9:56AM

Smaller energy suppliers will soon have to pay vulnerable customers the Warm Home Discount which is worth £140 a year...

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'Smaller energy firms will have to give £140 discount to vulnerable customers'

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michaels · 15 June 2018 at 10:34AM

How do you find out how many customers a company has and whether it will offer the discount - for those of us who get it it is obviously easily enough to sway a switching decision.

gadgetmind · 15 June 2018 at 11:28AM

I doubt any company will do this voluntarily as it means they'll be losing money on that customer's account, and this isn't a great way to stay in business.

PennineAcute · 15 June 2018 at 11:40AM

Sometimes, the bl**dy Government should keep their noses out. If smaller suppliers (who are mainly cheaper than the rest) have to give the WHD, then they will not be as cheap.

pdel61 · 16 June 2018 at 2:40PM

The problem is there are so many pressure groups complaining about energy prices that the government ends up having to act. All we hear about is competition isn't working, people aren't switching, it's unfair that people end up on standard variable rates at the end of their deal, any nothing about people taking responsibility about looking after themselves. If I buy my weekly shop in Waitrose, I can't really complain that goods are cheaper it Lidl, it's my choice.

Then we get onto fuel poverty, don't know where that came from, but it's just another made up jingle to have a go at energy supplier, what we do have is poverty. I don't know about others but I spend far more on groceries than on fuel, and yet we don't hear about food poverty.

We go on about the big 6 energy suppliers who have around 80% of the market, but don't go on about the big 6 grocery suppliers who have about 80% of the market. We go on about the lack of competition in the energy market and yet there are 50+ suppliers but not about the food market where there are probably less than a dozen.

I'm not saying the energy market is perfect, far from it, but it really is time people took control of their own life. Naturally there should be protection for those who can't switch, but why do we have to constantly focus on punishing those who take an interest in their finance, just because there are a group of people who can't be bothered.

gadgetmind · 16 June 2018 at 3:30PM

I spend more on Council Tax than fuel, so maybe we need to start banging on about Council Tax poverty?

Andy_WSM · 16 June 2018 at 4:01PM

gadgetmind wrote: »

I spend more on Council Tax than fuel, so maybe we need to start banging on about Council Tax poverty?

Totally with you there :T

Smodlet · 18 June 2018 at 1:43PM

pdel61 wrote: »

The problem is there are so many pressure groups complaining about energy prices that the government ends up having to act. All we hear about is competition isn't working, people aren't switching, it's unfair that people end up on standard variable rates at the end of their deal, any nothing about people taking responsibility about looking after themselves. If I buy my weekly shop in Waitrose, I can't really complain that goods are cheaper it Lidl, it's my choice.

Then we get onto fuel poverty, don't know where that came from, but it's just another made up jingle to have a go at energy supplier, what we do have is poverty. I don't know about others but I spend far more on groceries than on fuel, and yet we don't hear about food poverty.

We go on about the big 6 energy suppliers who have around 80% of the market, but don't go on about the big 6 grocery suppliers who have about 80% of the market. We go on about the lack of competition in the energy market and yet there are 50+ suppliers but not about the food market where there are probably less than a dozen.

I'm not saying the energy market is perfect, far from it, but it really is time people took control of their own life. Naturally there should be protection for those who can't switch, but why do we have to constantly focus on punishing those who take an interest in their finance, just because there are a group of people who can't be bothered.

^ ^ ^ ^ With bells on, x 1000. Why the hell should those who can be bothered to read their meters, submit the readings and switch subsidise those with more money than sense?

It is the same as Mr. Lewis' hand-holding and spoon feeding of those who cannot be bothered to work out that paying the minimum on their credit cards is costing them money. Clearly, they have the money to waste. Why deny them this privilege especially if it means CC companies can then afford to offer 0% rates to those of us who can be bothered to look for them?

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MSE News: Smaller energy firms will have to give £140 discount to vulnerable customers

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