Citizen’s Advice wants us to know that people are really very hard hit by the collapse of energy suppliers. It’s a terror, it really is. For people will now have to pay bills that they would have to pay anyway.
No, that is what they’re saying. If the energy company didn’t collapse then consumers would have to pay some amount of money. If the energy supplier does collapse then consumers will have to pay some amount of money. The same amount.
This is a Terror from which people must be protected.
At which point we might ask Citizen’s Advice to take more water with it:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Energy consumers will be forced to foot a £172m bill to cover the cost of the collapse of 11 energy suppliers since the start of last year. Citizens Advice said almost 30 million households will need to bail out the bust energy suppliers through their bills, while 32,000 may also be targeted aggressively by debt collectors hired by their administrators. [/perfectpullquote]Umm, so, how does this work?
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Energy customers pay the price for the collapse of energy companies British energy customers are facing a potential bill of £172 million from the collapse of 11 suppliers since January 2018. On top of this, thousands of people who owed money to failed suppliers lost out on consumer protections and faced aggressive debt collection as a result, according to a new report – Picking up the Pieces – by Citizens Advice. Energy suppliers pay a number of industry bills, these cover things including renewable generation, infrastructure costs and metering costs. The charity’s research shows that £172 million in unpaid industry bills was left behind by failed suppliers, which will likely be paid by consumers through their bills. [/perfectpullquote]So, that £172 million. It’s the cost of all the greenery. The supplier goes bust and the consumers will have to pay that £172 million.
OK. So, in the absence of the supplier going bust then who will have to pay the £172 million? The consumers again, obviously. All such Green things do end up on the consumers’ bills.
The net effect of the supplier going bust is that there is no change at all in the £172 million bill to be paid by consumers. Really, Citizen’s Advice needs to be taking more water with it.
The competition in the energy supply industry is largely this billing business, which should be a tiny part of our overall bills, but isn’t because of all the money (from guess who) spent by many tiny companies, each with its own software, layers of bureaucracy, and marketing. The most efficient company should sweep the board and drive the others out of business, but of course that is not allowed to happen, to preserve the illusion of competition.