Must be a hell of a job! The CEO's are all there explaining to OFGEM (their regulator) that they can't possibly reduce the cost of power to UK consumers - when along come a couple of little known companies who promptly undercut them! Puts them in a rather difficult position, and no doubt hurriedly rereading exactly what they did say so it see what manoeuvring room they had left themselves!
Now I do understand that part of their problem is that they have bought a lot of their supplies forward (i.e. committed to a firm price for their raw supplies some time in advance, ensuring that they could predict the cost for both themselves and customers into the future, allowing them to offer capped or fixed tariffs), but it also leaves us consumers thinking - Why stay with my current company when they are more expensive, and they themselves are saying they can't reduce prices further?
Well it is true that the customer service records of first:utility and Ovo, the newest entrants have let to be properly tested (first:utililty have not really been a mass market player until now, and Ovo are brand new), but none of the major power companies are truly outstanding in that respect (the highest overall satisfaction score any of the big players got was 52% in a recent Which? survey). Its also true that both these companies, unless they are buying energy forward at today’s prices might need to increase rates in the coming months, and that in first:utility’s case you really need to stay with them about 13 months to unlock a 15% discount, but other than that if the big energy companies are being truthful about their inability to reduce prices there is little reason to stick with an overpriced deal now.
Perhaps not how the companies intended their message to read but that’s the problem when they have to balance a regulator, a set of demanding shareholders and the poor old customer (who is stuck at the end of the line!)
The average saving moneymaximisers customers are making is steadily increasing as well - about £140 last month to £157 today so it might be a good idea to run your usage through our calculator and see whether you are currently getting the best deal you could.
Friday 25 September 2009
Wednesday 16 September 2009
What we are all about...
Blogging is going to be an important part of moneymaxim - understanding what you - our potential customer base - think and that has been at the centre of how we created moneymaxim - but we want you to tell us what we need to do to make it better still!!
At a really early stage it became clear that you, our potential customer base, were:
1. Tired of signing up to a supplier (bank, insurance company or utility company) only to find the goal posts were constantly changing with interest rates moving, renewal rates being less competitive or great prices were only being offered to new customers. You wanted to be rewarded for loyalty - but the vast majority of big business refused to do just that.
2. You wanted someone you speak to - finding suppliers on the internet has never been easier - but when you want to ask a question - that becomes difficult - go to FAQs - talk to someone who can barely speak English - why not a freephone in the UK!
3. You wanted someone who would keep an eye on things for you - so thats what we will do - when a supplier moves their rates adversely we'll let you know - when a new company launches who undercuts the market we'll let you know
How can we do all this free? Quite easily - we get paid by suppliers when we introduce a new customer to them - so we can pay our staff, run our website and invest in our business - not maybe make the millions that the utilility companies and banks make, but thats not our aim - we want everyone to be a little better off rather than make some people very much richer and a lot of people a little poorer!!
Want to know more - visit us at http://www.moneymaxim.co.uk/ and register with us - or call us on 0800 520 0699 - as I said - we love to talk - and don't hesitate to tell us if you think we should be doing something differently - we would love to hear what you think!
At a really early stage it became clear that you, our potential customer base, were:
1. Tired of signing up to a supplier (bank, insurance company or utility company) only to find the goal posts were constantly changing with interest rates moving, renewal rates being less competitive or great prices were only being offered to new customers. You wanted to be rewarded for loyalty - but the vast majority of big business refused to do just that.
2. You wanted someone you speak to - finding suppliers on the internet has never been easier - but when you want to ask a question - that becomes difficult - go to FAQs - talk to someone who can barely speak English - why not a freephone in the UK!
3. You wanted someone who would keep an eye on things for you - so thats what we will do - when a supplier moves their rates adversely we'll let you know - when a new company launches who undercuts the market we'll let you know
How can we do all this free? Quite easily - we get paid by suppliers when we introduce a new customer to them - so we can pay our staff, run our website and invest in our business - not maybe make the millions that the utilility companies and banks make, but thats not our aim - we want everyone to be a little better off rather than make some people very much richer and a lot of people a little poorer!!
Want to know more - visit us at http://www.moneymaxim.co.uk/ and register with us - or call us on 0800 520 0699 - as I said - we love to talk - and don't hesitate to tell us if you think we should be doing something differently - we would love to hear what you think!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
