Make energy accounts clearer, says Which?

25 June 2009

As Consumer Focus announces today that energy customers are being overcharged by a combined £1.66 billion this year, Which? energy campaigner, Dr Fiona Cochrane, says:

“The opaqueness of the energy company accounts make it hard to pin down their costs and allows them to refute issues of suspected overcharging. A simple solution would be for the regulator to force companies to present clearer accounts. Ofgem has suggested this as a possible recommendation, and we’d encourage them to adopt this as we need a more ‘open books’ approach.”

Notes to Editor

In June Which? responded to the Ofgem Energy Supply Probe - Proposed Retail Market Remedies consultation. In the consultation Ofgem set out four options for financial information reporting to improve transparency of supply and generation. In response to the consultation Which? recommended that Ofgem take forward option four as this would produce the most comprehensive financial reports.
 
Which? believes that promoting market transparency should benefit consumers and competition. It is vital that the information collected should allow an easy evaluation of:

• the energy supplier who achieved the lowest wholesale costs; and
• the energy supplier who passed on the greatest proportion of the lowest costs to its customers

Which? is calling for consumers to take action by emailing their MP at www.which.co.uk/energyaction