Wednesday, October 07, 2009
No surprises here then.
Fuel bills have become a "scandal" as the biggest suppliers in the £25bn-a-year industry make vast profits supplying gas and electricity to Britain's 20 million families, independent experts say. Utility companies put up power prices by about 42 per cent last year, or about £382 per household. Since then, the wholesale cost of gas and electricity has halved but bills have fallen by only 4 per cent.
Critics say there is too little competition between British Gas, E.ON, EDF Energy, Npower, Scottish & Southern and ScottishPower. The average domestic fuel bill paid by direct debit is £1,141 – but it varies by less than £20 between the six companies.
Over the past month, the mark-up charged by the established power suppliers has been exposed by two new operators who are taking advantage of rock-bottom wholesale gas and electricity prices to slash bills. First:Utility's typical tariff for bills paid online is £954, while Ovo Energy charges £978, a saving of £163 to £187 over the Big Six. Quarterly and pre-payment customers who switch to Ovo or First:Utility would save £287.
To read more of this story, click this link .
...So, I am not surprised by this story. Perhaps I am getting a little old in the tooth but I did not believe that when wholesale energy prices dropped, the savings would be passed onto the customers! I always thought that all the companies would keep the high retail energy prices and pocket the difference. What seems daft to me is that you do not actually get your energy from the charging company, they simply bill you for the cost. These are not energy companies but meter reading and billing outfits. Shame that domestic consumers cannot simply read their own power meters and pay the wholesaler of the gas or electric that they have consumed.
Fuel bills have become a "scandal" as the biggest suppliers in the £25bn-a-year industry make vast profits supplying gas and electricity to Britain's 20 million families, independent experts say. Utility companies put up power prices by about 42 per cent last year, or about £382 per household. Since then, the wholesale cost of gas and electricity has halved but bills have fallen by only 4 per cent.
Critics say there is too little competition between British Gas, E.ON, EDF Energy, Npower, Scottish & Southern and ScottishPower. The average domestic fuel bill paid by direct debit is £1,141 – but it varies by less than £20 between the six companies.
Over the past month, the mark-up charged by the established power suppliers has been exposed by two new operators who are taking advantage of rock-bottom wholesale gas and electricity prices to slash bills. First:Utility's typical tariff for bills paid online is £954, while Ovo Energy charges £978, a saving of £163 to £187 over the Big Six. Quarterly and pre-payment customers who switch to Ovo or First:Utility would save £287.
To read more of this story, click this link .
...So, I am not surprised by this story. Perhaps I am getting a little old in the tooth but I did not believe that when wholesale energy prices dropped, the savings would be passed onto the customers! I always thought that all the companies would keep the high retail energy prices and pocket the difference. What seems daft to me is that you do not actually get your energy from the charging company, they simply bill you for the cost. These are not energy companies but meter reading and billing outfits. Shame that domestic consumers cannot simply read their own power meters and pay the wholesaler of the gas or electric that they have consumed.
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