Government aims to empower energy consumers

This would be part of a package of reforms designed to ensure the energy market is truly competitive and working in the public interest.

In his speech yesterday to Parliament delivering the 2013 Annual Energy Statement, Davey also announced his ambition to reduce the time it takes a householder to switch energy suppliers from 5 weeks to just 24 hours.

He also wants to launch a probe into energy firms’ accounts to make them more transparent on profits and prices, as well as increasing penalties for market manipulation and regularly checking that the market is working properly.

“The energy industry needs to change to put consumers in control,” said Mr Davey. “That means making it easy for people to change supplier to save money, it means regular market assessments to check their behaviour, and it means tougher penalties for market manipulation and putting an end to opaque finances.

“We want to push energy companies to make switching quicker and easier – because consumer action can force suppliers to change their ways. Bills are being re-designed through Ofgem’s retail market reforms to give people the information they need to make switching easy – and we are taking direct action through the Big Energy Saving Network to bring first hand help to those vulnerable people who find switching difficult.”

First Utility has been leading the push towards faster switching and Mr Davey will meet with them over the next few weeks, along with Ovo, Spark, Good Energy, EON, Scottish Power, SSE and Co-op, and any other interested suppliers about how to make the switching process a lot faster.

As well as energy companies now being required to tell consumers about their cheapest tariff on the front of every bill, energy companies will be required to include a QR (Quick Response) code on energy bills, so that smartphone users can switch to the best deal through a few clicks on a mobile phone. As well as directly helping smartphone users, it will mean those giving advice on switching supplier to vulnerable people can instantly get the information needed to help them find the best deal on the market.

DECC will also look at requiring energy suppliers to provide key data securely to third parties such as switching sites.

Energy companies should be more open about how they treat credit balances in consumers’ accounts, making every effort to return money to customers with closed accounts.

Where that is not possible, Mr Davey said that energy companies should ring-fence that money to help their most vulnerable customers. Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker will shortly meet energy suppliers to discuss issues around direct debits, including the level of credit balances that energy companies hold.

Overall, at least £35 billion has been invested in increased electricity infrastructure since the start of 2010, bringing not just better energy security but economic growth, jobs and a boost to local communities.