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OFGEM published today various market indicators @ https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/monitoring-market/retail-market-indicators.

Some interesting results: Retail Price Comparison; shows the avarage standard tariff from the big6 suppliers as £1098 compared to the cheapest tariff of all suppliers as £810 – a whopping £288 possible saving! For large properties this figure would be far more.

Not surprising other suppliers have increased their market share to 12%, which is equal to Eon. Only British Gas has still a 37% share but also theirs is steadily dropping.

Pre-tax margins of the large suppliers have overall slightly improved to 4.5% with only EDF still marginally in the minus.

The message is clear: shopping for the best deal should save you £££’s in domestic and thousands in commercial energy contracts – call Alpine Utilities Today for a professional and impartial service.

The Times published a story yesterday saying the regulator is “too soft” in promoting competition between energy suppliers and that it “has failed to crack down on door-to-door miss-selling” and on regular cases of overcharging.

OFGEM boss Dermot Nolan however strongly disputes this claim as he imposed in December a £26m penalty on Npower and he referred the market to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Consumers, however have yet to see the results: Wholesale prices have plummeted but not the domestic energy bills!

Also in recent months Alpine Utilities submitted numerous complaints to various big6 suppliers on behalf of our customers.

We belive OFGEM needs to do more regular checks and audits on whether supplier’s systems are working and not allow years to pass until suppliers admit they had a problem in their billing system.

ELN cites a First Utility Estimate that as much as 70% of households are still paying the standard tariff with their Big6 supplier.

As the cheapest tariff available was £305 cheaper (32%) in December 15 than the dearest standard tariff; most households could have saved £750 on their Energy bills in the last 3 years.

Again, what’s true for private customers applies even more to the commercial sector.

For a competitive quote and a professional service call now Alpine Utilities on 0161 708 8640

Greenpeace Co-founder and former leader Patrick Moore told ELN: The increase in Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is not related to global warming and there is no definitive proof.
He believes the future will show the hysteria over climate change is a “complete fabrication”.
He added rich countries’ plans for wind and solar power “is a giant waste of money” as well as “unreliable and prohibitively expensive in the long run”.

While it is beyond my expertise to support or argue on such a statement it is certainly important that before jeopardizing our economy and endangering our energy supply; claims of climate change being caused by human intervention must be irrefutable proven and not just come from the renewables industry.

In this context there may be some good reason for the government’s proposal to slash renewables subsidies to new applicants and instead: It wants to rein in the spiralling costs of renewable energy subsidies and “protect” householders from higher bills as reported by ELN.

OFGEM has published its decision to fine BES Commercial Electricity Ltd and Business Energy Solutions Ltd (together referred to as “BES”) for their breaches in various consumer handling standards.

The first breach related to: SLC 7A.4(b) – Supply to Micro Business Consumers – These provisions require that, before a licensee enters into a Micro Business Consumer Contract, it must take all reasonable steps to bring the Principal Terms of the proposed contract to the attention of the consumer and ensure that the information is communicated in plain and intelligible language. These conditions were breached for the period 8 June 2010 to 12 July 2015 (Breaches 1 and 2).

While we are pleased that OFGEM has finally taken action against another failing suppliers we are disappointed at the fact that this breach has been going for over 5 years.

Once again we urge OFGEM to audit supplier’s performance and their system for being fit for purpose.

In recent weeks we have raised numerous complaints against different big6 suppliers on varying issues proving that many big and small suppliers are simply not up-to standard. Neither their human performance nor their computer systems deliver the service customers should be able to expect.

OFGEM published analysis on Non-gas heating customers.

It discusses primarily households with electric heating of which 1.7m use heating systems with the
capability to store heat. This allows households to use cheaper electricity at night
to charge the heating system, and to release heat during the day. Almost all of
these are storage heaters. A substantial minority (0.5m) use direct-acting heating
systems without storage functionality, which instead generate heat instantly when needed, and use electricity at that time.

OFGEM states: Electric heating and ToU customers most commonly seek advice on bills and
switching issues, then on faulty meters, and whether the ToU tariff they are on is
right for their needs. Although these kinds of queries are not unique to electric
heating consumers, there are some particular problems within them. For
example, billing complaints include suppliers reading the peak and off-peak
register of the meter the wrong way round, leading to incorrect bills; or faulty
meters which could lead to the heating and other appliances coming on at the
wrong time, with customers charged peak rates as a result.

Unfortunately this is not exclusive to domestic consumers as we have found commercial customers being incorrectly billed for their 2-tariff meter.

We would urge OFGEM to check on supplier’s ability and performance in getting their billing right.

In view of the “tight but managegable” electricity margin this winter; National Grid has now secured an extra 3.58GW of electricity to cover potential demand during winter 16/17 as reported by ELN.

This does not only give us some comfort not to expect any power outages but should put some pressure on electricity prices, too.

With Electricity prices already on a multiyear low; this positive development should encourage consumers even more to shop around and not just accept the supplier’s renewal offer.

For a comprehensive search of competitive prices please contact Alpine Utilities at your earlies opportunity.

OFGEM has published interesting infographics on suppliers’ performance.

In 2014 domestic customer made 6.5m complaints to the larger suppliers.

The recent publications also show a relative low percentage of complaints resolved by the next day.

Given the number of years since the inception of the de-regulation and the responsibility energy suppliers have in consumers day-to-day life; these figures should act as a wakeup call for the government to act swiftly to bring the house of energy suppliers in order so that consumers should no longer be overburdened with incorrect billing and payment issues.

What is true in the domestic sector is probably not much better in the commercial department.

Businesses spend much time and money to get their energy bills sorted.

The DECC should have much tougher guidelines in the required organisation of energy suppliers and their computer systems.

OFGEM published today its decision to fine Utilita for blocking domestic customers without good reason from changing supplier.

Once again OFGEM demonstrated its power and determination to root out any misconduct by suppliers and we hope this will cause all suppliers to bring their house in order.

OFGEM reported: Dermot Nolan, chief executive of Ofgem, told BBC Radio 4’s “You and Yours” programme that energy companies should cut bills – and urged listeners to switch tariff to get a better deal.

He complained that despite wholesale gas prices on a 6 year low; supply companies have barley cut their rates.

Customers should switch tariff and save up-to £300.

While this is true for domestic customers; it also applies to the commercial market.

Customers who just allow their contract to rollover or blindly accept their supplier’s renewal offer will substantially pay more than those who shop around.

But without understanding the market; you may be threading a potential mine field and may end up paying far more than necessary. It’s therefore important you contact a trusted energy broker like Alpine Utilities to help you procure the best deal.