We invited Vince Cable to explain what the Government is doing to put consumers at the forefront of regulation. The debate was quickly in full swing, so we’ve rounded up some of your best comments.
A number of your comments took the supermarkets to task over their pricing and special offer tactics.
Anthony Kennedy told us:
‘I hate this Bogof system, as some supermarkets even have you having to buy up to five items to get a discount. As a pensioner I mostly only want one item. The pensioners army is growing every year, so supermarkets beware.’
And Alfa likes the American way:
‘Several times in the USA we have bought one item that is on a multi-buy offer and have been pleasantly surprised when paying to find the price adjusted to the offer price. Why can’t our supermarkets do the same?’
Energy market overhaul
The discussion also touched on your concerns about the energy market, from how you’re charged for your energy and how suppliers purchase their energy to start with. Dave told us:
‘Simple unit pricing for gas and electricity would introduce simple competition between the energy suppliers-it is as simple as that. The energy companies know this and they don’t want it to happen so legislation is needed to make it happen.’
Burgmeister agreed with Dave but had some bigger concerns over transparency, saying:
‘I cannot understand why companies are allowed to be both supplier and generator. This clearly puts these combined companies at an advantage to any newcomer that has to purchase their energy from them before selling on to the consumer. Seperate the two, simplify the tariffs and get the bills down.’
Value for money?
Others of you had some more general concerns about the regulation of markets with Wavechange asking if the regulators are fit for purpose:
‘They seem to be listening far too much to the companies they are there to control and not to the needs of the consumer, which they are there to serve. Are any of our regulators giving us value for money?’
And Red Rose Romer told us we don’t need new laws and regulations, just companies and industries whoo treat their customers fairly, winning our Comment of the Week:
‘We don’t want new laws which will be ignored and new levels of bureaucracy; we just want fair dealing and a new code of ethics throughout business and government. Anybody seen to be acting unfairly should have to repay any profits they have made and the directors should be ostracised. We need to set an example.’
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