UK Energy Companies Overcharge By £1.2 Billion

[Vincent]

"Some of the poorest households have been overpaying the most"

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-3151966/Households-overcharged-1-2BILLION-year-energy-suppliers-says-CMA.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Nothing will be done as about £.2 billion will more than likely end up in the coffers for the next Tory election fund I wonder how many MPs and Lords sit on the boards of these companies or have share deals with them?

As these companies pay less and less tax and end up doing nothing for the country except stealing from its popuation, isn't it time they were nationalised again? Should they ever have been privatised?
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Space Is Deep

[Rogerborg]

Sure, nationalise it. Energy will be cheaper for the 3 days a week that it's available.
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[Vincent]

I think the idea that non-profit making energy companies can't be run properly is nonsense. They can still employ the same people and pay them the same, you just don't end up with millions in profit in someone elses pocket for doing fukc all.
I was too young to care at the time but running up to the privatisation of these companies I bet that they were sabotaged by those who had a vested interest in their demise, including those in the position of power......just like we're seeing with the NHS now, cuts, low pay, lay-offs, lack of real support, denied funds etc, etc.
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Space Is Deep

[-]

I don't see the problem, all this non-story is about is that the naïve, gullible, feckless, lazy or stupid stayed on the standard tariff rather than shopping around.

It's a free market, nobody forces you to buy your energy from one particular supplier. If you can't be arsed to shop around in a competitive market, tough luck.

What's next, insurance companies being pulled up for not offering as cheap as a competitor? Supermarkets not offering the cheapest price amongst it's competitors? Sky and Virgin offering better deals to new customers over existing customer tariffs? Banks not offering their best rates to every customer?

It's not a monopoly, none of these industries are, you're free to shop around. The only exception was the privatisation of water. Those b4stards can get away with increasing their charges at 4-5% the rate of inflation year on year and there's sod all anyone can do about it, you're tied to the same suppliers, a perfect monopoly. At least as long as Offwat can't grow a pair.
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[grr666]

Business in 'attempts to make money' shocker!!

I read that as the 'poor' CBA to change suppliers or compare their deal/rates to others available while the
more motivated and savvy ones who can make be bothered to check and query their bills or look for
alternative suppliers get a better deal. I'm afraid that's probably the same reason a lot of those people are skint
in the first place. General apathy and laziness, but I'm sure it's because they are 'hapless victims'
of corporate fraud really.

So, they can't be bothered to do the legwork to get the best deal or physically check to see if readings are correct?
But that's somehow the fault of the people that supply the power at an inflated rate? Or just the fault of the
'disadvantaged victims' (read fools) that pay it? It's only a con if they aren't transparent about pricing
tariff. I think if you can be bothered to read the small print, in order to trade legally they all are exactly that.
Transparent, but first you have to bother to look in the first place.

Where electricity is concerned the ones paying more money per KWH for it are are often on key meters
(with a published and publicly available price list) and are paying over the odds because of the (published)
conditions accompanying that method of payment. Often because they can't be trusted to pay bills on time/at all,
don't have sufficient credit score to qualify for postal bills, opt for one as they wish to avoid 'unexpected' quarterly
bills by paying as they go, or don't have (or wish to use) a bank account. Who's fault is that?
My parents earn over 80k a year between them, no kids at home etc etc, they're still on a key meter but
they are too lazy to change. As a result they pay more per KWH than I do. Tough titties I say, the only
thing stopping them getting a better deal is them.

It's the same trick more or less every insurer tries to pull each year with a renewal quote that's over the odds.
They are relying on good old UK apathy/laziness to get away with charging more. How many just say
'sod it' and pay what they ask rather than ring around each year. I bet for every person that queries it
and searches for quotes elsewhere there are 5 that don't and pay over the top. If you look at it, that's a pretty
good business model. One thing you can count on (or bank on in this instance) in the UK is the ethos of apathy
that pervades every aspect of our society. If there's an easy way to turn that into cash, you can't blame
them for doing so.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[oldpink]

some people can't change
a friend of mine is on a pre pay meter paying over £200 a year for the privilege on top of his bills
when I tried to change him over to another supplier (he's not savvy to these things)
I was told he couldn't get of the pre pay as he had a bad credit rating
turns out he defaulted on a catalog payment over 4 years ago
about £100 in total
and he was in debt to the leccy company for £75 due to them having not set his meter correctly

unless he paid off the £75 to them and cleared up his credit rating he can't change company's or tarrif
which they still have not came out to set his meter to take the correct amount
so getting further into debt

I got the impression they were happy with the situation as its win win for them
and a captive customer
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I have become comfortably numb

Theory & hazard 24-may 2016, CBT 8th June 2016, MOD 1 2nd Aug 2016 Mod 2 2nd-Nov 2016 - Current bike CBR 600 RR

[Ste]

There's more to it if no other supplier would give him a credit account.

[Vincent]

A few years ago, everyone welcomed new business and privatisation as they were going to benefit the economy and we'd all be better off....but now companies no longer feel the need to pay tax...overcharge their cuctomers, (us), and pay NMW to a good propertion of their employees, how do this benefit the economy exactly?
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Space Is Deep

[oldpink]

IF he paid the £75 that he owed them due to there incompetence he could change to another supplier
but as mentioned he would have to change to another pre paid supplier charging almost the same rate
problem is he is on benefits due to loosing his job after discovering he is diabetic and other health issues
and at 53 his job prospects are slim to nothing
his benefits barely covers his living costs and due to be cut further
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I have become comfortably numb

Theory & hazard 24-may 2016, CBT 8th June 2016, MOD 1 2nd Aug 2016 Mod 2 2nd-Nov 2016 - Current bike CBR 600 RR

[Rogerborg]

Tell me more about why he defaulted on a payment while he was in work, and how his physical illness makes him incapable of writing a complaint or waddling down to Citizen's Advice.

There's always some sob story. Energy suppliers are not social services. That would be social services.
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GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Ste]

[Polarbear]

[N cee thirty]

[Kickstart]

Hi

I used to work for one of the big 6 (and there is no love lost there). The profit per customer is pretty small, just with lots of customers it adds up.

Privatisation was quite a long time before customers had a choice of supplier.

The whole system is a hideously complicated mess, with the split of generation, supply, distribution, metering, etc.

Tariffs are complicated, partly as what makes sense for one person doesn't for another. Add in a load of legacy tariffs (even before you get to special tariffs for people with kidney machines, etc) and it is a nightmare.

Standing charges are paying for the connection maintenance, basic service, etc. Many electric companies removed the standing charge and used a tariff where the unit rate changed (reducing after you used so much power). For most people this probably made no difference, but for those with tiny bills it would have made a fairly hefty reduction. But it does make things more complicated, adding yet more tariffs.

Nobody really wants prepayment meter customers. They cost more to bill and support, and the supplier gets it in the neck for charging more for that. Add to that they are probably smaller properties with lower consumption and hence lower profit anyway. The customers still need billing, the meter still needs reading, and you need to add on the cost of changing the unit rate on the meter. Ridiculous thing is that this could have been simplified decades ago, but now that it is quite possibly 3 different companies that own the meter, read the meter and want the meter reading (and quite possibly dozens of different combinations in the area) there is little reason to sort it out. 20 years ago there were the smart card prepayment meters in use in some areas that could change the unit rates, read the meters, change the fixed charge, etc, when the card was topped up to pay for the electric. But these died a death when it became possible to switch suppliers.

Not sure what the solution is. My experience of my former employer was that it was management by knee jerk. Little or no long term planning, let alone planning between the suppliers.

All the best

K
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[oldpink]

[Ste]

[Vincent]

I think one of the problems in the past with Nationalisation is that the various governments never put enough money back into maintainance and infrastructure. They probably cut money to give tax breaks in an attempt to get people to vote for them.......as usual.
If you think about it, a Nationalised company should have more money to put back into the system so it could be run better.

What other problems are there with Nationalised amenity companies. From where I'm sitting, they look ten times better than having these crooks make money out of it
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Space Is Deep

[Vincent]

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[-]

[Ste]

It's the same as people who just renew their insurance rather than shopping around. The savings are there to be had if people want them and if they don't then that's up to them.

And it's also the same with train tickets. Standard prices are expensive but even just knowing specifically what type of ticket to ask for can save you money and if you look into permitted routes and short stopping then you can make significant savings.

[-]

Energy bills is a play on the stupid. Milliband thought it would win him votes by saying he'd cap energy rises.

It's a market where wholesale prices are constantly fluctuating. The energy firms set their prices accordingly with fixed deals so they wont lose out over the term of the deal.

Guess what they'd do before a certain date, if told they couldn't increase pricing after a certain date?

Energy, Insurance etc is generally all low margin stuff. The only reason why those not as thick as pigsh1t get it cheaper, is due to the thick as pigsh1t ones, who don't shop around. These idiots save me a fortune, long may they continue to be naïve, gullible, lazy or plain thick!
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Jaguar S Type 3.0 V6 Sport R, VW Transporter T5 GP LWB Shuttle 140ps DSG.

[oldpink]

[Ste]

It's interesting that CAB couldn't help him especially if he had the sick note from his GP.

I'm almost certain that there's more to it because if he's signed off work by his GP then it's really quite straight forward.

[Vincent]

"ESA delays
The latest employment and support allowance (ESA) statistics show that one third of claimants have still not had a decision on their claim after 8-11 months. Another 40% recover or die before they have any chance of an assessment".

From "Benefits and Work" web site, June 17th 2015

The government are still refusing to release figures on the amount of people that have died after being taken off, (cheated out of), sickness and disibility benefits.

If you become too sick to work nowadays, it can be a long hard slog to get your entitlements and if you're successful, many more months before you actually recieve anything.....no matter how long you've paid into the system. If you're disabled with no profesional help....you're well and truly in "Shit Street".
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Space Is Deep