On 9th May, The Daily Mail headlined “£100 off your energy bill”, and had the nation smiling. However, for most of our customers, the truth is, it will bring no saving at all and could in fact push costs higher.
This headline grabbing Conservative policy is aimed at controlling the underlying variable domestic tariff rate. A tariff levied to those domestic customers who have never switched and who have been happy to languish with their traditional long-term energy supplier, paying whatever price has been peddled to them.
As such, those who have already embraced the competitive energy market will get no help; nor will businesses, whatever their position. In fact, it’s conceivable that, as suppliers make less money from their ‘captive’ domestic base; they will look to recoup more money from their other clients, such as those in the non-regulated sector.
As they say, there’s no such thing as a free lunch; somebody will end up paying, and chances are, it will be you.