Two years ago, when wholesale energy costs were falling, I got a letter from Powergen telling me that they were putting their prices up. Here's the letter I sent to Nick Horner, MD of Powergen in response...
Quote:
Dear Sir,
I am in receipt of your letter dated September 2006 advising me of the increases in gas and electricity prices that took effect on 6 September 2006.
This letter opens with the sentence "You may be aware that wholesale energy costs are continuing to rise". On the contrary, I am perfectly well aware that wholesale energy costs have fallen substantially over the last few months and are predicted to fall further still in the next few. Jessica Bown writing in the Sunday Times of 17 September 2006 says:
"The price of gas for winter delivery in the wholesale market… has fallen by a quarter over the past four months as supply problems have eased – and electricity costs have plummeted 30 per cent."
As managing director of one of the UK's largest energy suppliers I find it impossible to believe that you were not aware of these facts and can only conclude that you have chosen to open your letter with a bare-faced lie.
As a consumer I am absolutely sick and tired of being continuously ripped off by unscrupulous, inefficient, greedy and incompetent utility companies. I switched to Powergen from British Gas / London Electricity because I was tired of being taken for a mug but now I find that I'm still seen as nothing more than a cash-cow to be milked until dry. And treating me like an imbecile by expecting me to believe your ludicrous assertion that "energy costs are continuing to rise" is simply adding insult to injury.
Please supply me with a full and detailed justification for your outrageous decision to raise retail prices while wholesale costs are plummeting. On receipt of this I will consider whether or not to lodge formal complaints with Offgem and/or the Office of Fair Trading.
Yours in disgust,
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Needless to say it achieved nothing, except making me feel slightly better for a good spleen venting. (And no, I didn't write it in green biro!
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I wouldn't mind them raising our bills when wholesale energy costs rise if they also dropped their prices when wholesale costs fall. But they don't. When Powergen finally got round to reducing it's gas and electricity bills, after falls in the wholesale cost of more than 60%, they did so by 13% for gas and less than 1% for electricity. Now that wholesale costs are going up again they're passing on the full increase to consumers. Scumbags!
Dave P.