Four of Big 6 Energy Suppliers Face OFGEM Investigation

Four of the "big six" UK energy suppliers are to be investigated amid concerns of mis-selling to customers, the regulator has announced.

Npower, Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy, and EDF Energy all face questions over face-to-face and telephone sales of energy contracts.
Ofgem said it had received information from a variety of sources suggesting they could have breached new rules.
The quartet said they would work with Ofgem on the investigation.

Research by the regulator in 2008 found that, of those who switched their energy supplier, more than half did so in response to contact with a salesman.
But it found that many who switched following doorstep sales ended up on a more expensive tariff because they were misled, or found it difficult to compare bills.
As a result, Ofgem brought in new regulations at the end of last year aimed at tightening up the sales process.

The new requirements included:
supplying a customer with an estimate before any face-to-face sales are concluded
giving, in most cases, a comparison between the new offer and the customer's current deal
actively preventing mis-selling to customers on the doorstep and over the telephone.

The four energy companies face an investigation into whether these new licence agreements have been breached.
"We expect all suppliers to comply with these tougher obligations, but if our investigations find otherwise, we will take strong action," said Andrew Wright, of Ofgem.
The regulator has the power to fine a company up to 10% of its turnover if a breach is discovered.

Previously, under the preceding mis-selling rules, Ofgem fined Npower £1.8m in 2008. London Electricity - now part of EDF Energy - was fined £2m in 2002.

Views expressed by the four energy companies suggest they will vigorously refute any claims of mis-selling.
David Mannering, the corporate economic regulation director at Npower, said: "We fully support Ofgem in making sure that customers clearly understand the products on offer to them and we are confident that the processes we have in place mean that we comply with our regulatory obligations."
Scottish Power has the highest proportion of complaints per 100,000 customers made to advice line Consumer Direct this year. However, not all of these complaints are necessarily justified, as they are just the view of the consumer.
Its spokesman said the company would answer questions raised by Ofgem.
Scottish Power insists on the highest standards possible for all of our sales agents, and invests heavily in training and development to maintain these standards," he said.
EDF Energy said that it believed it was fully compliant with the rules, and trained its staff fully, including refresher briefings. All new sales were verified by telephone to confirm the customer's intention to switch.
And SSE said it believed it was complying with the new rules.
"As a responsible company we take seriously all our customers' issues and would ask any prospective or existing customer to contact us if they are concerned, and we will work with them to resolve the situation," SSE said.
Christine McGourty, director of Energy UK, which represents the leading gas and electricity companies, said: "The companies involved will collaborate fully with the Ofgem investigation and are awaiting further details from the regulator.
"The new regulations that cover doorstep selling are part of the industry's EnergySure Code of Practice and members undergo a rigorous independent annual audit to ensure all the obligations are being met.
"Any sales agent in breach of the code will be struck off the approved energy sales register. Companies take their customers' concerns seriously and would urge customers to call them directly with any concerns they have."

Helpline
Meanwhile, Ofgem is urging any householders who believe they have been mis-sold energy on the doorstep or on the telephone to report the case to the Consumer Direct hotline by calling 08454 040506 and choosing option one.
However, the current system still encourages mis-selling, according to Audrey Gallacher, of watchdog Consumer Focus.
"Complaints have declined since new rules came into effect this year, but suppliers still seem to be flouting the rules," she said.
"Some customers are still being given misleading quotes and information, which leave them worse off when they switch provider.
"While many doorstep sales people will do a good job, the pay and rewards system continues to encourage mis-selling, despite years of regulation and voluntary initiatives.
"If better advice for customers and enforcement of the tougher rules doesn't end the flagrant abuse of this form of selling, the big question will be whether it should be completely banned."

Article courtesy of BBC

Phoenix Energy recommend getting independent advice or visiting our independent and inpartial pice comparison site.
http://www.getmecheapbills,com/

A New Round of Price Increases?

First Utility has increased energy prices for its existing customers by up to a quarter.

The start-up supplier has put up some of its prices by 23%, paving the way for the possibility of a new raft of increases from the “big six” energy companies.

Customers who are on First Utility's two variable online dual fuel tariffs - isave v1 and isave v2 - can expect increases to their energy bills.

Based on an average household, the isave v2 tariff has risen by 23.3% to £1136 a year from £921.
This deal is now £254 more expensive than the best online dual fuel deal, SaveOnline v2 from E.ON which stands at £882 a year, according to figures from moneysupermarket.com

Meanwhile, the isave v1 has also gone up from £965 a year on average to £1136 a year - an increase of 17.7%.

The news of price hikes is a stark contrast from earlier this year when First Utility named itself a price pioneer and the first energy firm in the UK to offer a dual fuel tariff costing less than £900.

Mark Daeche, chief executive officer of First Utility, said: "Last year Ofgem agreed to increase the charges that the gas and electricity distribution and transmission companies charge all Energy Suppliers. The increase in these charges came into effect on 1 April 2010.

“This is an industry-wide pricing change that all suppliers in the energy marketplace have to deal with.”
Daeche also blamed the rise in energy wholesale prices for the price hikes.
He added: “In addition wholesale energy prices have increased significantly since March 2010.
“We have been able to absorb these additional costs and delay increasing our prices until now, however it is has become apparent that these costs are likely to remain high for the foreseeable future.
“We will be reviewing this situation on a regular basis so that we can pass on price reductions directly to the consumer as soon as we can.“

At the end of July First Utility pulled two of its online deals - the smart online saver 4 and the isave V3.2 - and lauched its isave v 4 and smart online saver 5.

Is this the start of a new round of price increases from the 'big 6'? We recommend shopping around in order to obtain the best deals - particularly First Utility customers and customers coming off fixed price deals.

http://www.getmecheapbills.com lists all of the energy deals currently on offer. Check now to see how much you could save.

FREE Energy Monitors for Business customers

Phoenix Energy are independent energy brokers and consultants, working with all of the leading suppliers with the aim of reducing business energy bills. Our customers cover all sectors of business and commerce, from corner shops to industrial manufacturing sites.

To celebrate the launch of our new bi-monthly newsletter, Phoenix Energy are running a promotion to increase business environmental awareness and to reduce the energy usage of its customers.

For every new business energy customer, signing a contract through Phoenix Energy, we will give away a FREE Eco-Eye Elite energy monitor.

The Eco-Eye constantly monitors the amount of electricity coming into a business and clearly displays the energy usage in either Kilowatts or in cost and is a visual reminder to think about how much power a business is using. Using an energy monitor helps identify wastage and encourages businesses to make changes which will reduce carbon footprint, making a real difference to electricity bills as well as the environment. The average energy reduction of businesses using this type of monitor is 15%

Simple to install, and easy to use, Eco-eye makes you aware of your electricity usage and will have you saving your money from the first time you use it. With real time information up-dating every 4 seconds, you can identify which appliances are energy efficient and those which are not!

Eco-eye monitors retails for approximately £50 so we believe this is a tremendous offer, particularly since using Phoenix Energy to organise your energy contracts will also usually give an average cost saving of 10-25%
Details of our monitors can be found at

http://www.eco-eye.com/

We have previously offered this promotion to Business Clubs North East members and our customers have experienced significant savings in usage as well as savings on energy bills – a ‘win - win’ situation!

An End to Fuel Poverty?

With more and more customers falling into the fuel poverty* trap (latest estimates are around 4.8 million homes) Energylinx asks the question why government departments have not focused on resolving this at grass roots levels by encouraging customers to simply switch energy supplier to the least cost supplier.

Energylinx predicts that with careful management of those customer's transferring, ensuring that they do geniunely receive a 100% impartial comparison, that the likelihood is that fuel poverty could be eradicated in the UK almost overnight. The only negative issue is that if this was to happen energy suppliers would be forced to increase energy costs as they simply could not maintain their current competitive position with the sheer number of new customers joining them at the most competitive rates.

Energylinx predicts that if in an ideal world that all 4.8million fuel poor switch supplier to the least cost supplier for their household then energy prices across the board would need to increase by circa. 3% to allow suppliers to maintain current profit margins. The result is that the 4.8 million homes taken out of fuel poverty some 600,000 would ultimately fall back into that position.

At this level government initiatives could readily help reduce this further by the use of programmes such as http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/Benefits/BenefitsInRetirement/DG_185940.
With some simple changes to this very welcome programme a further 150,000 households could easily be helped out of the pain of fuel poverty. A further easy change would be stop paying the 63,740 pensioners who are resident full time outside the UK their Santa fund** ....................oops winter fuel payment! The winter fuel payment was introduced back in 1997 to help those over 60 manage their energy bills and cope with the winter temperatures. Last year those payments amounted to circa. £14million to those living outside the UK.

Phoenix Energy Support Armed Forces Day

Phoenix Energy are proud to announce our support for Britain's Armed Forces and for Armed Forces Day 26th June 2010.

http://www.armedforcesday.org.uk/

To show our support for our servicemen (and women) ansd veterans we have agreed a deal for qualifying armed forces personnel, reservists, veterans and emergency services

For all new energy customers signing up to same money through GET ME CHEAP BILLS .COM using the Forces Discount Website,

http://www.forcesdiscounts-mod.co.uk/

Phoenix Energy will donate £20 to The Royal British Legion.

"The discounts and benefits provided in the Defence Discount Directory and web site are aimed at the Defence Community in its widest sense. Regulars, Reserves, Veterans, Cadets, MOD Civil Servants and families together make up a group of over 10 million people."
Vice Admiral Peter Wilkinson, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Personnel)

Phoenix Energy hope to make a substantial donation to the Royal British Legion and look forward to supporting this excellent cause.

http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/

Ovo Energy to Pay Interest on Account Credits

New market entrant Ovo Energy is to pay interest to customers whose accounts are in credit. From July this year, the firm will offer 3 per cent to customers in the form of a credit.

Founder Stephen Fitzpatrick told Utility Week that the company now has 30,000 customers, with 12,000 switching in April and May this year alone. He said turnover is around £36 million and that the firm "is not operating a loss leader strategy".

Fitzpatrick added that the bulk of Ovo customers were on its 'new energy' tariff, of which green energy makes up 15 per cent.

The company also plans to start rolling out smart meters by the end of the year.


A very interesting development - we will be watching closely to see if any of the leading suppliers foolow suit and this becomes widespread amongst the industry

Npower - 'Footy Saver' Tariff

npower has today launched a new tariff called 'Football Saver'.

Football Saver provides customers with a gaurantee that their prices will be 7% lower than standard npower prices until at least 30th September 2011.

The tariff is only available to new customers who either take gas and electricity or electricity only (if they simply do not have mains gas).

There are no early termination fees associated with this tariff so customers can leave without penalty at all times.