Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Why Are We Paying Too Much for Our Energy Bills

This week on the Kiran Trivedi blog I ask what the recent news that the energy market is over regulated means for your personal finances.

Energy Bills Just Keep on Going Up!

I regularly talk about the impact of energy bills on your personal finances. If you are looking to live on a budget, you’ll have zero chance of success if you don’t think about how much you need to pay for electricity, gas etc. every month.


But as of late, that hasn’t been easy. It seems that energy bills in the UK have been constantly rising over the last few years. This means that not only are energy expenses putting more pressure on your personal finances than ever, but they are harder to predict.
Consequently, this makes it harder to budget for energy expenses, further effecting your personal finances. That’s why I thought you Kiran Trivedi readers would be interested to know that the reason you are paying high energy bills could be because there is too much red tape in the energy market.

Energy Regulation since 2008 Too Aggressive?

According to the BBC, five former regulators went on record last week suggesting that too much regulation could have stopped competition among energy suppliers, in turn keeping energy prices high for households across the UK.
Specifically, they suggested that regulation since 2008 has been too aggressive. This conclusion comes in light of recent Ofgem findings, which suggest that energy suppliers have been able to continue to raise their prices, free from any competitive pressure, even whilst wholesale prices were falling.

Ofgem Responds to Regulator Criticism

Ofgem responded to the criticism, saying it would pay “close attention.” However the regulator went on to deny that things were fine before 2008, but took a turn for the worse when after the date they adopted a more interventionist approach.
A spokesman for Ofgem said: "Many of the current problems with retail competition in the energy market were showing before 2008 and the regulatory and policy environment has changed significantly since then."

Switch to a Low Cost Energy Supplier

So is more regulation the reason your energy bills are so high? Maybe, I’m not sure yet. What I am sure of Kiran Trivedi readers, is that the Big Six energy companies provide poor value formoney. That is why I would suggest that if you’re looking to protect your personal finances, you switch to a low cost energy provider today! 

If you wish to talk to Kiran Trivedi about my articles or just chat about finance, you can contact me here.


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