Ofgem has today started to roll-out its market reforms, which should soon see consumers beginning to benefit from a simpler, clearer and fairer energy market, says Uswitch.com.
Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at Uswitch.com, says: “The time for talk is now over – the real work starts today. There is now a general acceptance that consumers need and deserve a competitive market that works for them. This is now the first step in the process and consumers should soon start to see some of the complexity and the confusion stripped away.
“However, simplicity and information are only part of the picture. Consumers need to feel confident, which is why we would urge Ofgem to go the extra mile not just with these reforms but in now educating consumers about how the market works and how they can get the best value. Educated, confident and empowered consumers are key to sparking a healthy, competitive market.
“There are still some crinkles in the reforms to be ironed out. For example the Tariff Comparison Rate will actually confuse consumers rather than help them. And there are some areas where we would urge Ofgem to push harder – for example we would like annual statements to look more like annual renewal notices, giving consumers a clear prompt and all the information they need to shop around.
“However, Ofgem has delivered a strong set of reforms and now it is up to the industry to start to deliver. The proof of this pudding will be in the eating though and we will all know that Ofgem has succeeded when growing numbers of households are able to use competition to get better value and cheaper energy bills.”
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Uswitch is the UK’s top comparison website for home services switching. Launched in September 2000, we help consumers save money on their gas, electricity, broadband, mobile, TV, and financial services products and get more of what matters to them. Last year we saved consumers over £373 million on their energy bills alone.
Uswitch is part of RVU, a new business that also owns Money.co.uk and Bankrate.
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