Monday 14 May 2012

Energy firms are turned off by Which? switch offer

A CONSUMER rights group which has its customer service centre in Hertford has come under fire for its involvement in an energy bill switch scheme.

Some energy firms have refused to sign up to Which?’s Big Switch because they believe the organisation stands to make too much money from the scheme, which claims to help people reduce their bills.

The registered charity, which has offices in Hertford’s Gascoyne Way, currently has 283,000 consumers signed up and will charge energy firms £40 for each new customer they gain, meaning it could pocket more than £11m.

Founder of energy firm Ecotricity Dale Vince said: “This is not an attack on Which? which generally does a good job but we feel that if they want to become an energy broker they need to make it clear to the public that this is not a purely charitable campaign and has a definite commercial outcome.”

Chief executive of Ware-based supplier Green Energy UK Doug Stewart said: “We don’t pay brokers or price comparison websites because we have just two tariffs and charge our customers the same. We would not offer different tariff rates to customers from Which? to loyal ones who have supported our mission to green up the grid for years.
“The real issue is the cost of energy – that’s the fundamental driver in price.”

No comments:

Post a Comment