Really ?

[Bazile]

Now there is a surprise

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35321723


//Wholesale energy costs make up nearly half of a domestic bill, and have fallen by about a third in the last 12 to 18 months, he said.
Yet, prices had not fallen, he added//

They are always extremely quick off the mark to jack up prices when wholesale energy rises , but always have excuses not to reduce prices , when wholesale energy falls

When is something going to be done about this , in order that consumers can get a fair deal

[Old_Geezer]

Energy companies have been able to add inflation busting rises in the not so distant past. I seem to recall thinking "what again ?!" at some point. Commercial concerns seem to view us as cash cows with a government not able to do much about it. Logically we should be looking at a drop when the weather gets warmer, but I'd not put it past them to be planning another inflation busting rise to cover all the extra maintenance costs and replacement costs.

[viv41]

They have us in a corner, they know we need to heat out homes. It'll never change !

[viv41]

^ 'our'

[Gromit]

If you see Sid, tell him...

[Gromit]

...we've seen no competition and been totally ripped off since privatisation.

[Bazile]

^^^^

Sid's too busy administering his shares, to be concerned about the wider public :-)

[fiction-factory]

>we've seen no competition and been totally ripped off since privatisation.

I've switched at least 10 times over the last 10-15 years to get the best deal each time and had half a dozen different suppliers.

No competition? I agree that the energy companies like to make it difficult for us to compare tariffs and they are masters at obfuscation- but with around 10 providers now and impartial (and some not so impartial comparison sites), plus a simple switching system, there is competition. But despite the best efforts of Martin Lewis, Which etc. something like 80% of people have NEVER switched. So I suggest more competition wouldn't make any difference

[youngmafbog]

The problem is Energy companies buy their energy way in advance (not just in time purchasing). The sin is raising immediately not the dropping which does take a while to filter through.

[fiction-factory]

I agree with that- energy if often bought a couple of years ahead. However the energy companies do only seem to point that out when delaying price cuts and not when rushing through price increases.Although I do recall a few years ago when energy tariffs were going up by around 20% the price of wholesale energy had gone up by something like 60%. It's such a complex market I suspect that if the world's two top statisticians/financial analysed the figures over several years they could easily come to different conclusions.
It would be much easier if customers could be persuaded (forced?) to review their supplier every year or two.

I think that there may actually be TOO MANY suppliers out there. Maybe each year the suppliers should have to submit bids/tenders and the government advises/forces everyone to use one of the cheapest 3 preferred suppliers

[Gromit]

// The problem is Energy companies buy their energy way in advance //

Not sure how true that is. We have had very low wholesale prices for over 18 months. I doubt they buy that far in advance.

More likely, at the end of the month, the Government intends to publish a report on competition (or lack of it) in the Energy sector, and the Big Six Energy Companies are cashing in now, before the Government clobber them.

[Old_Geezer]

If one feels the need to go through the hassle of switching annually (and I know that doesn't always go smoothly) then that implies to me that competition is not achieving what many claims it will. It's supposed to keep prices down regardless yet it's clear consumer prices remain high, with different companies taking turns to be the least expensive for a while. Consumers played as fools as the market effectively acts as a single source in the medium term. And when the rules allow foreign purchase of our utilities there is even less incentive to consider the UK a home market that's important as the owners will have investments elsewhere and need not play fair here. At least when utilities are a publicly owned monopoly we have a government to protest to; and excess profit remains in the public domain.