http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36961798


The obsession with “shopping around” for things. Banks, energy, car insurance -and no doubt more. Yo¨]d spend your whole bloody life doing this - and all because the markets operate in a way that if you opt to remain, you start paying more. Loyalty is not rewarded.

Loyalty is not rewarded and at the same time p!ss poor performance on things like switching suppliers isn't punished much either.
I switched supplier last year after having been with my previous one for some time and the process worked but took more than a month for all the wrinkles to work through.
My one year fix is coming to an end and they have prompted me to look at their current offer and also said I may be able to get it cheaper elsewhere so I'm actually relatively impressed with this lot. I have gone online to check and I could indeed get a cheaper deal. The problem is the cheapest one is with Scottish Power and given how badly the screwed up stuff when I've used them in the past that isn't happening. All the cheapest deals are with companies that seem to score very badly for customer satisfaction - is it worth the risk and the hassle? That's the real question. I can't hlp but think that the reason the supply is cheaper is because they've 'made savings' in things like customer service.
My current supplier's best deal will cost me about £10 more than it did this year assuming the same consumption so I'm not really that bothered for the sake of a £1 pcm and I guess that's how they get people to stick.

There should be an expensive penalty for providers that screw it up - paid to the consumer for when things go wrong or take to long. The only way the energy companies will improve their game is if it really costs them to cock it up (and they are prohibited from passing those costs on to consumers so they have to be borne by the owners/shareholders).

The News at One says that everyone who hasn’t switched in three years will be put on a database, and then contacted about switching. No mention of an opt out.