Bid to block plan for price comparison sites to filter energy deals
MPS have urged the Government to drop a recommendation allowing price comparison sites to display only the energy deals that earn them commission.
The Energy and Climate Change Committee has written to the new Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary Greg Clark to raise concerns that the recommendation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) could undermine consumer trust and disadvantage smaller suppliers, therefore competition.
The committee said it was urging the Government not to implement the recommendation.
Committee chairman Angus MacNeil said: “Price comparison websites must do what they say on the tin.
“Consumers expect price comparison sites to shine a light on the whole market, not keep them in the dark and push them into commission-earning deals.” harming
The CMA’s recommendation that price comparison websites should no longer be obliged to show deals on which they do not earn a commission was included in its final report following a two-year inquiry into the energy market, published the day after the EU referendum result.
Roger Witcomb, chairman of the CMA’s energy market investigation panel, said the job of price comparison sites was to provide better deals for customers, adding that they should do this by negotiating with energy suppliers, as was the case in other markets.
He said Citizens Advice already ran a website that compared all the energy deals available.
But Mr MacNeil said at the time that the CMA’s recommendation would mean that comparison sites would become advertising sites and “lead to further consumer distrust of the whole edifice around energy”.
In February last year, a report by MPs warned that consumers were being misled into switching to deals that were not the cheapest on the market and said those who had lost out as a result should receive compensation.
Ofgem later published a revised code for comparison sites stating that they must include deals for all available domestic tariffs.
Luke Watson, managing director of GB Energy, which gave evidence, said: “It is completely illogical to allow comparison sites to restrict access to the cheapest deals.” A MAN found with tens of thousands of child abuse images on his computer told police he had accidentally downloaded them while “looking for 3D movies”, a court has heard.
Adam Morawski, 41, of Montrose, told officers he had tried to delete the files and said they “weren’t naked children”.
But when officers searched his computer they found 15,000 indecent photographs and more than 13,000 indecent video images of children.
Fiscal depute Trina Sinclair told Forfar Sheriff Court police discovered the images after acting on a tip-off.
When asked about the numerous hard drives found at his house, Morawski stated that he sometimes repaired computers for friends and was often left with spares.
He told police he had opened a file while looking for movies and when he realised it contained indecent images had tried to delete it but later forgot about it.
Hestatedthefilewastoo large to delete.
Morawski pled guilty on indictment that between April 20, 2013, and June 22, 2015, at a flat, he took or permitted to be taken or made indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children and that between April 20, 2013, and June 29, 2015, at the same address, he possessed indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children.
Sheriff Pino di Emidio deferred sentence until next month for background reports, placed Morawski on the sex offenders register and released him on bail.