Energy companies accused of overcharging
While it may come as no surprise that energy companies across the UK today stand accused of overcharging their customers, or to put it another way, not reducing prices as quickly as they went up, the situation appears to be much worse than initially thought. The independent consumer watchdog, Consumer Focus, believes that on average each and every customer in the UK is being overcharged by £74 a year with regards to their energy bills.
The energy companies have hit back at suggestions that while the price of oil has fallen from $147 a barrel in July last year to around $70, energy costs have not reflected this, suggesting that other costs have increased during this time. Consumers have for some time been complaining that prices increased at a faster rate than they have declined as and when the cost of energy in the wholesale market has fallen. This is an area which the UK government had attempted to tackle some time ago but due to a mixture of having to keep the energy companies on board and looking to the future for new energy supplies, the investigation appeared to die a death.
It will be interesting to see if the UK government responds to this latest report which is possibly the most damning to date.
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