The Big Six Ways Huhne Isn't Helping

  Yesterday Chris Huhne called a press conference to let the public know how to deal with rising energy costs. The emphasis is really on public as the “Big Six” energy companies gathered did little other than to send out letters to their customers urging them to switch tariff. Chris Huhne’s message was to “Check, Switch, Insulate”. The Energy and Climate Change Secretary said that the Big Six had “announced their price increases for the winter” and “a number are going to hold them through the winter.” Huhne also argued that British citizens were wasting energy when compared to other countries : “In Sweden for example the temperatures are substantially below ours but they use less energy…..because they waste less energy.”

This does nothing to address the real problems facing energy consumers.

   

            1.     “Check, Switch, Insulate” does nothing to fix the broken energy market.

            2.     If consumers do want to switch they are faced with a confusing 400 tariffs between the big six energy companies

            3.     Research by Which? has shown that if they do call to change tariff they will often not be told the correct information. On average                 one third of calls made by Which? requesting energy providers cheapest tariff were given not only wrong information but quoted higher tariffs. 

            4.     It is simply not true that people in Sweden use less energy. Figures for 2006 - 2009 show that energy use per capita in Sweden is substantially higher than in the U.K.

           

            5.     Free insulation schemes are to be welcomed but are of limited use when energy companies are hitting around half of minimum Cert targets.

           

            6.     There’s no promise from the energy companies or Chris Huhne that after changing Energy provider their bills won’t be put up during the year.

 What would really help consumers:

           1.      Forcing energy companies to sell a percentage of the energy they produce on the open market would help new companies enter the market. 

           2.     Each energy company should display single unit prices and reduce the number of tariffs making it easier for consumers to compare prices.

          

          3.     Insulation installation rates need to be at least doubled with more help from the big six and government.

   

          4.     Start shifting the responsibility for pricing to energy providers instead of blaming consumers using dodgy facts.

          5.     Set a maximum unit price given energy provider’s recent bumper profits.

  Chris Huhne’s announcement today does little to smash the energy “cartel” and end “predatory pricing” as he promised at the Liberal Democrat conference or address the very real problems facing energy consumers. The government needs to do more to stop the chilling possibility of 1.9 million more households being in fuel poverty this winter and households on median incomes being in fuel poverty by 2015.

Jamie Brown

@fishisoff