O/T:- Ofgem, not fit for purpose

[Med Pie]

The BBC headline reads

Plans for energy tariffs with no standing charges

Any idiot can guess how this would be achieved and it's confirmed within the article with contradicting lines reading

'Energy firms will be forced to offer customers tariffs with no standing charges, under a proposed shake-up of bills by regulator Ofgem'

Then.

'Ofgem is proposing suppliers offer one price-capped tariff that includes the standing charge, and another that loads these costs on energy usage charges instead.'

What is the point of Ofgem, this is an arrangement which makes it sound like they've achieved something for the consumer which they haven't, companies will take the standing charge one way or another. At least with the current arrangement, the standing charge is clear and obvious, the new arrangement will allow bills to be far more opaque.

[SmiffyPie]

Don't get me started on utilities!!
Of all the things any government has done in my lifetime that has impacted the lives of so many people is sell the essentials to investment companies. How can any responsible government allow people to get ripped off just to provide some bugger with a profit dividend? Yet despite record profits they then have the audacity to say the customer will have to pay increased bills to meet upgrades/improvements. If I could afford the gas it would make my blood boil!!

[Med Pie]

Utilities are such a cash cow that they form the backbone of most pension providers portfolios.

[keldsyke]

The BBC headline reads

Plans for energy tariffs with no standing charges

Any idiot can guess how this would be achieved and it's confirmed within the article with contradicting lines reading

'Energy firms will be forced to offer customers tariffs with no standing charges, under a proposed shake-up of bills by regulator Ofgem'

Then.

'Ofgem is proposing suppliers offer one price-capped tariff that includes the standing charge, and another that loads these costs on energy usage charges instead.'

What is the point of Ofgem, this is an arrangement which makes it sound like they've achieved something for the consumer which they haven't, companies will take the standing charge one way or another. At least with the current arrangement, the standing charge is clear and obvious, the new arrangement will allow bills to be far more opaque.

It is from the BBC so probably not true or been skewed.

[SwalePie]

It is from the BBC so probably not true or been skewed.

What source would be your recommendation for a true and unskewed report?

[maddogslater]

British biased corporation

[SmiffyPie]

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, said: While today's Ofgem announcement on standing charges isn't the best possible outcome, it's the best outcome that Ofgem can deliver unilaterally, to do more would require government intervention – and that hasn't happened.

Standing charges are a ?338 a year poll tax on energy bills, a moral hazard disincentivising lower users from cutting their bills. They also punish customers that only use gas for central heating in winter, many of whom are elderly, by making them pay for every day in summer. It's by far the biggest single subject of complaint I get from the public about energy bills.

The best outcome would be to slash standing charges within the Price Cap, yet as that'd mean the cost of each unit of energy would need to increase, it'd require the Government to put in special support for vulnerable high energy users – such as those charging electric wheelchairs, or those with illnesses that require a very warm home. That hasn't happened (yet?).

Instead, I'm pleased its alternative path follows our submission suggestion of a dual Price Cap, one as now, a 'higher standing charge, lower unit rate', and a new 'no standing charge, higher unit rate' version that'll benefit lower users.

Yet the Price Cap was designed to be a safety-net tariff for customers who don't or can't engage in switching. The problem with presenting a choice of Price Caps is many vulnerable people won't make that choice. So I will be making a representation to Ofgem to ensure firms are mandated to default lower-use Price Cap customers on to the no standing charge tariff – or at least do that for those on the Priority Services Register.

[keldsyke]

What source would be your recommendation for a true and unskewed report?

Try independent reporting with no agendas. Don?t believe what the BBC, SKY, Laddo or Channel 4 tell you. I?d believe Ruski Andy before believing any thing those 4 tell you.

[SwalePie]

Try independent reporting with no agendas. Don?t believe what the BBC, SKY, Laddo or Channel 4 tell you. I?d believe Ruski Andy before believing any thing those 4 tell you.

How disturbing.

[Old_pie]

Yet the Price Cap was designed to be a safety-net tariff for customers who don't or can't engage in switching. The problem with presenting a choice of Price Caps is many vulnerable people won't make that choice. So I will be making a representation to Ofgem to ensure firms are mandated to default lower-use Price Cap customers on to the no standing charge tariff ? or at least do that for those on the Priority Services Register.

The Price Cap is set by a cartel which includes Ofgem which ensures that the energy companies can charge the maximum price without any incentive to charge less than the Price Cap. It's called "No competition".

It was an emergency measure I seem to recall brought in when Russian oil supplies were disrupted. We've got loads of windmills and solar farms so the price of energy should be falling - ah ah. Thank god for CCGT(combined cycle gas turbine).