Quantcast
Menu
Save, make, understand money

Household Bills

Largest energy providers still have too many on poor tariffs, says regulator

Cherry Reynard
Written By:
Cherry Reynard
Posted:
Updated:
21/12/2017

SSE has come bottom of the latest Ofgem league table on Standard Variable Tariffs (SVTs), with over 70% of its customers still on expensive deals.

SSE and British Gas combined account for more than half of all customers on SVT deals. The report showed British Gas had 67% of its customers on SVTs.

At the other end of the scale, those with the smallest proportion of their customers on SVTs are all independent suppliers – First Utility (23%), Ovo Energy (28%) and Co-Operative Energy (35%). There has been an overall decline in the number of customers of these tariffs.

The regulator has said suppliers still need to do more to ensure customers are getting a fair deal. Ofgem also announced a further extension to its ‘safeguard tariff’ to more vulnerable customers on SVTs. This will cover over one million vulnerable households from February, extending to another two million before next winter.

Ofgem chief executive Dermot Nolan said: “Ofgem’s league table shows which suppliers have the most work to do to get all their customers a better deal.

“Some of the larger suppliers have a significantly lower proportion of customers on poor value standard variable deals than SSE, British Gas and E.ON in particular. This shows it is possible to help more of these customers get a better deal and it is unacceptable that so many are still paying too much for their energy.”

Ben Wilson at GoCompare Energy said: “Being on a supplier’s standard variable tariff usually means you’re on their worst possible deal and today’s league tables show that millions of households across the country are currently paying way more than they should be for their energy.

“This must change. While pushing energy companies to do more for their customers is one important part of this, people also need to be encouraged to shop around and switch – which is how they can get the biggest savings.

“For instance, the average annual cost of a standard variable tariff (SVT)  across the UK’s top 10 largest providers is £1,131. In comparison, the current cheapest fixed deal on the market is just £814, a difference of £317. This is real money, that every year millions of people are leaving on the table.”