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What the papers say about electricity suppliers26.6.2008
Power industry bosses were branded fat cats making obscene profits by an MP yesterday. At a hearing of the Commons Business Select Committee, Labour's Lindsay Hoyle said: 'This is rip-off Britain and you are part of the rip-off'. The top executives of Britain's 'big six' power firms faced tough questioning over rising bills - and predictions that they will soar another 40per cent by Christmas. 29.5.2008
Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has warned its 8.5m customers that they face a possible hike in gas and electricity bills. The company, which provides power to consumers in Scotland and southern England, said that higher wholesale prices meant that it may have to pass them on to customers. 28.5.2008
Times Money readers have uncovered flaws in npower's billing system that could mean that the UK's fourth-largest energy supplier has overcharged millions of customers. 21.5.2008
Energywatch chief exec Alan Asher slammed bloated and inefficient gas and electricity companies, saying consumers were getting it in the neck. The lack of competition in the UK market means prices are rising faster than in the rest of Europe, he told the House of Commons Business and Enterprise Committee. The energy supply market has slimmed down from 20 competing companies to six giants who form a comfortable oligopoly, with very little to choose between them in price terms, he said. 21.5.2008
Allan Asher, the chief executive of Energywatch, told a parliamentary select committee that competition in the energy market is a 'myth', with the six major suppliers operating a 'comfortable oligopoly'. As a result, prices in Britain are rising faster than in the rest of Europe.The lack of competition means prices are rising faster than in the rest of Europe, where Britain is ranked fourth for electricity costs and 10th for gas, Mr Asher said. 20.5.2008
UK consumers are being ripped off by a comfortable oligopoly of bloated electricity and gas supply companies, MPs were told yesterday. At the opening of a parliamentary hearing into competition in the UK power market, Allan Asher, the chief executive of Energywatch, the consumer watchdog, launched a two-hour tirade against the industry's leading players. He accused Britain's big six energy suppliers of engaging in tacit collusion. 18.5.2008
Britain's energy suppliers resemble the Opec cartel and should be investigated by the Competition Commission, Energywatch will tell a powerful committee of MPs this week. The 'Big Six' suppliers, mostly owned by the giant European utility groups, dominate the market in the UK. Last week British Gas, owned by Centrica, warned that prices would go up again, blaming the rising cost of gas on the wholesale market. 16.5.2008
Energywatch believes the Government, the industry regulator Ofgem and the EU have done too little to challenge the price-setting systems used by European energy suppliers such as RWE and E.on of Germany, EDF of France and Iberola, of Spain. As a result, British families and business are being held to ransom by European gas companies who can, for example, use their control of the pipelines to block access to cheap gas from Russia. 12.5.2008
Iain Turner, a research analyst at Deutsche Bank, said: "Gas and electricity prices are at record highs. They require Centrica to raise prices by a politically-difficult 20 per cent just to stand still." 23.4.2008
Adam Scorer, director of campaigns at consumer group Energywatch, said it had written to Npower and Ofgem with details of more than 400 cases where consumers had complained about the company's sales tactics. 'With the evidence suggesting Npower's sales staff were caught red-handed bullying, deceiving and harassing consumers, an example must be made of them,' he said. With electricity prices in the headlines UK businesses are choosing lower bills and excellent service with Electricity for Business.
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