uSwitch.com welcomes investigation into UK energy market

uSwitch.com welcomes news that there is going to be a Select Committee investigation into possible anti-competitive behaviour in the UK’s energy market.

Tim Wolfenden, Head of Home Services at uSwitch.com, comments: “This announcement is very welcome. The industry has been haunted by allegations of collusion and anti-competitive behaviour which may cause consumers to doubt the benefits that switching can bring. Hopefully these are ghosts that can be laid to rest and we can all get back to the fundamental issue at hand – making sure consumers are getting the most benefit from a healthy, competitive energy market.

“Competition in the energy market is not a spectator sport – it will only ever work properly if both consumers and suppliers get stuck in. The deals are there, the savings are there – consumers just need to start taking advantage.”

However, the facts speak for themselves:

Only 4.5 million households out of 26 million switched last year – that’s only 17%

Just under half of all households have never switched (since competition was introduced) – that’s around 10 – 12 million households

Consumers will only be making effective use of competition when they become regular switchers – however uSwitch.com research shows that only 5.8 million households (22% of the population) have switched suppliers more than once

Whole groups of consumers are missing out on the benefits of competition – over two thirds (69%) of the over 60s have never switched.

Tim Wolfenden continues: “With consumers now being asked to accept inflation busting price hikes at face value, the time has come for the industry to start being open and upfront about how household energy bills are calculated and what costs consumers should legitimately be asked to shoulder.

“The ongoing debate over competition in the market is for the Government and the regulator to get to grips with. The key thing is that consumers must not allow themselves to be distracted from the immediate savings they can make now. We would like to see greater transparency over pricing, however consumers cannot afford to sit back and wait for this. There are good deals out there now which could shave up to £325 off an annual energy bill – consumers need to be taking action now.”