Energy Selling - No Cold Calling

I was struck by today's announcement by the energy regulator OFGEM that it is to look at the profits being made by the six primary energy companies. Are they playing fair? Alastair Buchanan the OFGEM CEO suggests that they may not be.

Of course if the energy market to consumers was truly competitive then consumers should be confident in their ability to shop around, switch supplier and secure the best deals around. But I think many are asking just how truly competitive the market is with seemingly each supplier following suit when it comes to raising prices. It always just seems a matter of time before they are all on the same hymn sheet.

This comes on the heels of the concerns recently expressed as to whether the energy companies are all complying with the new Code intended to aid transparency of pricing when it comes to, for example, doorstep selling. At TSI we have been saying for three years that the doorstep cold call selling of energy is outmoded and unfit for a 21st century consumer energy market.

The OFGEM Code is intended to be its last chance saloon to prove that the industry can cold call cleanly. Alas I see no future for such a crude selling method for such an increasingly high cost product. The more expensive our gas and electricity gets the more inappropriate doorstep persuasion and selling is. I look forward to one day seeing Alastair Buchanan agree.