Energy firms under fire

ENERGY company bosses have faced a blistering rebuke by a cross-party panel of MPS criticising them for failing to offer cheaper energy deals more than once every two to three months.

The select committee interrogation, led by Rachel Reeves MP, focused on energy firms’ efforts to move customers from standard tariffs to cheaper fixed deals. Senior executives at SSE, Eon UK and British Gas owner Centrica told MPS they contact customers on standard tariffs, or around two thirds of their total customers, between four and six times a year to offer a better deal.

Meanwhile, First Utility, a newer supplier with a far smaller proportion of customers on standard deals, contacts its customers 13 times a year.