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Ofgem turns up the heat on energy suppliers
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Ofgem Summit: Fuel Poverty Must End
Writes Dan Drage dan.drage@consumerchoices.co.uk
A summit meeting between energy regulator Ofgem and the big six energy suppliers put tackling fuel poverty high on the agenda.
Energy suppliers agreed to roll out measures that will lift elderly and poor customers out of fuel poverty.
The agreement includes allowing customers using pre-payment meters to use switching web sites and making sure help reaches those most in need.
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"Energy bills are set to rise by another 25% this summer, and many households have been forced into a choice between heating or eating"
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Energy bills are set to rise by another 25% this summer, and many households have been forced into a choice between heating or eating.
Sir John Mogg, Ofgem Chairman, had the following to say:
‘The actions from this Ofgem summit will help ensure that resources to fight fuel poverty have the highest impact by targeting them precisely on those who need them.’
Elsewhere, troubled energy provider npower (www.npower.com) face a mis-selling probe after a London sales team was caught misleading potential customers.
Rules state that customers must be aware they are entering a contract, but npower representatives obtained signatures on contracts without informing those signing of the legally binding nature of the documents.
npower said it would co-operate fully with the investigation.
Chris Eagle, Commercial Manager at Energy Choices, is delighted with these developments:
‘Hopefully, this will spell the end of pre-payment meters, the most expensive way to pay for an energy supply, and corporate mis-selling by energy providers. In the light of profits announced by energy suppliers for their operations last year, it’s not like they can’t absorb the cost of replacing pre-payment meters with standard dial meters.’
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