EXPERTS DEFEND ENERGY’S BIG SIX

ENERGY suppliers aren’t ripping customers off, a group of former industry watchdogs claim.

The five, who include the ex-head of regulator Ofgem, reckon the market is “working better than is generally realised” and warned against a threatened cap on sky-high energy prices.

Their letter comes despite prices rising 158 per cent in 15 years and British Gas making £533million profit last year.

Five of the Big Six suppliers are to hike electricity prices by up to 20 per cent.

The bigwigs, including Professor Stephen Littlechild, the UK’s former head of electricity supply, and ex-Ofgem chief Sir Callum McCarthy, said: “Retail energy profits are not excessive.” MORTGAGE lending has fallen to a nine-month low – driven by fewer homeowners moving. An estimated £18.2billion of home loans were handed out – eight per cent lower than January, said the Council of Mortgage Lenders. WITH TRICIA PHILLIPS MANY people who take out personal loans feel misled when they end up paying double the advertised interest rate from online lenders.

A report from lending platform Nava and the Centre for Economics and Business Research reveals the average teaser loan rate online is 3.5 per cent. But the actual average rate paid by borrowers is 6.9 per cent, according to the Bank of England.

Lenders only have to give advertised rates to 51 per cent of people they accept for loans.

Andrew Hagger, of Moneycomms. co.uk, says: “If you have a less-thanperfect credit record you may still be accepted, but because you are seen as a higher risk you will be charged a higher rate.”