Ofgem Proposals: Your Voice Counts
Email campaign launched in support of anti-rollover
measures
Almost every business that has switched its energy supplier
would like to see more information clearly presented on their
bills, according to research from 'Make It
Cheaper'.
An overwhelming 94% of the 500 companies surveyed said that
industry regulator, Ofgem, should enforce a reminder of the
'contract end date' on every bill. A similar number of businesses
think their contract renewal letters should be sent by Recorded
Delivery and contain more information about the process required to
escape an automatic renewal. Figures (below) from Make It Cheaper
show that automatically renewed - or rollover - contracts cost
businesses around a third more than those signing up to a new
supplier. Despite this, the majority of businesses are still caught
out by the rollover trap because they fail to act during the
'renewal window' which might only open for 30 days and close long
before the contract end date is reached.
This has prompted Make It Cheaper to launch a campaign, encouraging
businesses to write to Ofgem calling for reform, and which
coincides with the regulator canvassing opinion - specifically from
business energy customers - on proposals for its
Retail Market Review.*
Jonathan Elliott, managing director of Make It Cheaper,
commented: "Any business that's been caught out by a rollover
contract will know how frustrating and expensive it is to be
locked-in for a year unwillingly. If, like just about everybody
we've asked, you'd like to see some anti-rollover measures put into
practice then now's the time to act. Ofgem is asking for input from
business energy customers and so we've put together an email on our
website that anyone with a vested interest can just copy, paste and
send."
Make It Cheaper's suggested email response to Ofgem's
consultation (which closes on Feb 15th) can be found at
www.makeitcheaper.com/ofgem
Av Rollover Rates Av Switching
Rates Difference
Business Electricity: 14.25p /kWh
10.15p/kWh
-28.8%
Business
Gas: 4.5p
/kWh
2.9p/kWh -35.5%
Source: Make It Cheaper, January
2012
- ENDS -
* Note to editor: Page 42 of
Ofgem's consultation reads: "Ofgem would like to hear the views
of interested parties in relation to any of the issues set out in
this document. In particular, we would like to hear from business
customers…"
About Make It Cheaper: Established in
2007, Make It Cheaper is the number one destination for businesses
to get a better deal on their utilities and other services. Based
in Central London with 110 staff, the self-styled 'saving experts
for business' receive more enquiries and arrange more new contracts
than any other business price comparison service. These include the
business customers of major domestic price comparison services with
whom Make It Cheaper has partnerships, as well as many trade
associations and charity membership organisations. Acting on behalf
of all these customers with total impartiality and free-of-charge,
Make It Cheaper offers year-on-year savings across a range of
products including: business energy, telecoms, insurance and
merchant services (chip & pin). By switching suppliers or
helping to renegotiate deals with existing ones, it will typically
save over 30% of costs - as well as a considerable amount of time
that its customers can then spend on running their
businesses. Make It Cheaper is currently ranked 39th in the
Sunday Times Fast Track 100.
