Ofgem announcement
Published on 07 April 2011 02:30 PM
Responding to recent reports that the industry regulator Ofgem has said that energy consumers can save up to £170 a year by shopping around for the best deal, Age Cymru Head of Policy and Public Affairs Graeme Francis says:
"Age Cymru welcomes any move to ensure that older energy customers are getting the best deal on their energy bills.
"The UK's energy marketplace is complicated and competition has so far failed to safeguard people from fuel poverty.
"We agree with Ofgem that more support needs to be provided to help households get the best deal out of the complicated mixture of tariffs and suppliers.
"Social tariffs offer an important mechanism for protecting the most vulnerable customers from fuel poverty as they can provide cheaper energy deals and extra services to help consumers.
"Currently however, each supplier's social tariff is different in terms of eligibility and level of discount.
"Social tariffs will be replaced over the coming years by an automatic rebate on energy bills for vulnerable customers.
"We provisionally welcome this move as it should ensure more people are getting the help they need.
"We call on the UK Government to ensure that this constitutes a big step towards ensuring that all fuel poor customers are automatically placed on the cheapest energy tariff for them."