Emdad Rahman :: Chris Huhne must back up his pledge to “get tough” on the big six power firms with strong action on energy bills, campaigners have urged.uSwitch.com has welcomed Chris Huhne’s announcement that Ofgem, the energy regulator, is to be given more teeth and that energy customers will see their rights boosted. Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch.com, said: “In a year of double price hikes and soaring fuel poverty, consumers need Ofgem to champion their cause. The hard hitting and meaningful measures announced by Chris Huhne will allow Ofgem to take its gloves off and will make it even easier for consumers to reject price rises by shopping around for a better deal. In a year when prices have increased by £224 or 21% this is just the kind of ammunition that consumers need.
“The main measures to simplify tariffs, bills and annual statements will be very hard to achieve without Ofgem being given additional powers to stop companies from blocking these consumer-friendly moves. We also welcome the fact that Ofgem wants to speed up the switching process to three weeks. This will go some way to reassuring consumers and to building trust and confidence in the switching process. “However, it’s also important that consumers feel that their current supplier is giving them a fair deal and the best way of achieving this is by highlighting the cheapest deals on bills. Once consumers see the savings available it should prompt many more to help themselves by taking advantage of more competitive prices, whether from their existing or a new supplier.
“The warm home discount is welcome, but with almost 7 million households now in fuel poverty helping 600,000 just doesn’t go far enough. However, overall this announcement is good news for consumers.”
Consumer group Which? welcomed moves to help people tackle spiralling fuel bills, but warned that almost two-thirds of homeowners never switch supplier and called for efforts to inject genuine competition into the energy market. As the Energy and Climate Change Secretary promised at the Liberal Democrat party conference to hold course on being the greenest government ever, campaigners demanded moves to increase renewables and cut dependence on fossil fuels. Mr Huhne told activists that ministers are poised to order energy suppliers to pay customers unlimited refunds to compensate for “bad behaviour”. And he confirmed tough new powers for energy watchdog Ofgem which will allow it to stop companies blocking reforms. Mr Huhne, who was criticised for saying at the weekend that families “do not bother” to hunt for bargains on gas and electricity, will also announce changes that will make it easier for consumers to switch suppliers so they can lower their bills by up to £200 a year. Richard Lloyd, executive director at Which?, said: “With many people facing price hikes of 10% to 20% this winter, Government action on rocketing energy bills will be overdue but welcome. For the millions struggling in fuel poverty, help can’t come soon enough this winter. “Giving people information on their bills about cheaper tariffs is a step towards helping people to manage spiralling energy costs. However, when 60% of domestic energy customers never switch, the Government and Ofgem must now take action to inject genuine competition into the energy market.
“Serious questions must be asked about whether the major suppliers’ customer bases will need to be broken up in order to achieve a competitive market.” Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Donna Hume said: “Chris Huhne is right to target the big six, but his fighting talk must be matched with bold action to slash energy waste and cut our dependency on expensive fossil fuels.”