British Gas price increases – we need more competition!

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Centrica last week told the daily mail that one of the three reasons for future price increases was, “lower consumption” – astonishing that they have the cheek to market that people should be saving energy at the same time as punishing their customers financially for saving energy!

Competition, in my view, will not help here.
We need a regulator that acts fast and has the teeth to stop energy companies in their tracks. Waiting for a report months down the line isn’t going to stop my household being a further £164 out of pocket this year, because of this price hike.

The biggest benefit for customers would be to reveal what energy bill payments are being used for.
If british gas didn’t confuse the issue so much (along with other energy companies to be fair) then I don’t believe prices would be as high as they are now, pre price rise.
Transparency is the key, if energy companies and their billing methods are exposed for all to see, then the billing system is simplified, we would all be able to see where the money is going.

British gas would do well to remember that providing customers with essential energy is a PUBLIC SERVICE and as such, minimal profits (if any at all) should be made on this.
They make more than enough profits from boilers/service contracts/insurances, etc.
All gained from being seen as experts (above non energy companies) in their field, due to providing the public service that is energy provision.

If british gas are not profiteering then what’s stopping them from letting the public have access to the information regarding the buying and provision of the service?

One other question – consumer focus, consumer direct, ofgem, competition commission, department for energy and climate change are all non existant in taking any ACTION. Which begs the question, what do we pay millions to them for when they cannot suspend, prevent or block 25% rises in energy without any justification from the energy company concerned?

I considered applying for fixed payment for a year ahead when Scottish Power announced their price increase and the premium for the privilege was 19%. Admittedly the chance of losing out if fuel prices reduced is improbable but the increase announced today seems to match the premium for a fixed tarif.
Is this a co-incidence?

British Gas price increases- We need more competition !
You may be right but this increase will go on and on until OFGEM and Government stops their sweet relation with them.
OFGEM is the governing body of the Gas and Electricity market. They suppose to protect consumers which is their first priority
Here, everything is happening out of control and going opposite direction and giving bad example to others to follow them. They will drain consumers hard money in this bad economic condition with limited money in their pocket.
All Energy Companies will also hold your credit money with forthcoming price increase !…..They all playing their best monopoly game to beat the consumer protection body .You know why ?
Our Consumer law is too weak to protect us. This will go on and on until Govt and MPS take active interest to protect from sudden rise.

I think part of the problem is not lack of competition but the length of time it takes to change supplier. I recently swapped and it took the best part of 2 months to switch over. Even then, I am tied in with early exit penalties so it is only really worth considering changing once a year.

If it was possible to switch providers in, for example, 5 working days then competition amongst the existing suppliers would be much more aggressive.

Are the rises excessive ? There have been big increases in the market price for gas and electricity.
We dont know how much the suppliers have protected themselves against increases by trading in “futures” and we dont really know what the suppliers are paying for the power themselves.
So are we really in a position to claim changes in prices are fair or unfair ?

Unlike most other goods we buy the cost the consumer pays for power consist mainly of the cost to the supplier and its unlikely that there is a huge difference between suppliers in their other costs.
e.g. The market cost of coffee and chocolate has increased enormously over the last year but the consumer price has increased by only a relatively small amount as its made up mainly of processing, transport and marketing costs.

It seems every time there is any mention of energy price inceases everyone starts talking about “switching”, “fixed deals” and “increasing competition”.
But when all suppliers get the energy they sell us from basically the same place and at much the same price these switching and fixing exercises are at best short term gains (welcome but still short term) and not by any means a satisfactory on going solution. Fact is energy costs are set to continue going up whoever you buy from and tinkering around the edges by switching won’t really change anything in the long term.

We can of course save by trying to use less, by insulating and getting more efficient appliances, but that in itself may turn out to be a short term gain because if say British gas sells less the unit cost to supply increases placing pressure on profits and leading to more unit price increases (economies of scale in reverse) In fact I suspect this is already happening.
Add to this the Green taxes imposed by the Government and the future doesn’t look good for our bank balances whatever we do and whoever we buy from.

I’m coming round to the conclusion that we need much more state subsidy to improve our domestic energy efficiency, more insulation, more money off better heating systems and legislation on minimum efficiency ratings of the appliances we buy. The cost to do this will have to come from general taxation, but this is a national problem and to coin a phrase “we’re all supposed to be in it together”.
Combine this with re-nationalsation of the energy supply industry to get rid of infrasructure duplication (and cost), put into place a powerful watchdog to ensure efficient operation and things although probably not perfect will be as good as they could be.

We’ve tried a free market approach to energy supply and it seems to me not to have worked, we’re all getting turned over to satisfy a greedy profit margin and I can only see it getting worse, much worse.

I will be moving from an all electric apartment next month for a terrace house with separate gas and electicity suppliers. Should I continue with the existing providers at the house are already use the switch tool to find the best combi supplier and get a fixed price deal?
Are any of the suppliers better at helping with Boiler replacements or insulation support?