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Consumer Focus expresses concern over confusing energy bills

January 20, 2011 at 4:41 pm

Consumer Focus has written a letter to energy industry regulator Ofgem complaining that the terms and conditions of energy tariffs should be made a lot clearer to avoid confusing customers.

Specifically, Consumer Focus has called for an investigation into how tariffs are marketed and sold by energy suppliers. The concern for Consumer Focus is that the average energy consumer has trouble understanding all of the tariffs.

Back in March 2010, it carried out its own research into the matter, and the results suggested that a third of consumers don’t understand the information on their bills.

In total, there are 93 tariffs between the six biggest energy companies. With so many tariffs on offer it is easy to see how this could become confusing for customers.

The news follows on from the recent rises in gas and electricity bills, which have left many customers unhappy. Ofgem has now launched its own investigation into some of these rises.

The head of energy at Consumer Focus, Audrey Gallacher, said in the letter that tariffs are “often structured in ways that are overly complex and can seem designed to confuse the average consumer”. She also highlighted problems with “dubious discounts,” and revealed the shocking statistic that nearly 60% of consumers don’t know which tariff they are on or what they pay per unit.

However, the director of Energy UK, Christine McGourty, said that it is a good thing that consumers can choose from a large number of tariffs, and that customers can always call their energy companies to find out which is the best tariff for their situation.

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