Martin Lewis' website has shared an important update with regards to the energy market, and it might well be good news for gas and electricity customers hoping to make savings in the near future. The official MoneySavingExpert site today published an article which detailed Ofgem's request that energy suppliers publish details about their existing tariffs.
The move, which Martin has been campaigning for, hopes to make it easier for customers to compare fixed-rate deals and understand whether it's worth making the switch. Previously, energy suppliers didn't need to share tariffs offered to existing customers, meaning that punters couldn't fully predict whether it was cheaper to move elsewhere.
Financial buff Martin initially raised the issue with the energy regulator several months back, following it up with a formal written letter last month. The MSE man said that under current rules, it is 'near-impossible' for consumer advice organisations to provide guidance on 'opaque' deals which are being offered to customers.
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The Mirror reports that he in-turn explained that his consumer guidance site, has to 'rely on crowdsourcing from consumers willing to forward bills', adding that it was 'urgently' needed to be addressed as energy suppliers began bringing back 'short-lived competetive fixed deals'.
And this week, Ofgem announced that it had made a formal request to all energy companies to set out 'clear expectations' on financial resilience, as well as how they will support consumers moving forward. The regulatory body also said it will be 'monitoring' the situation, to ensure the market is operating 'competitively' on pricing.
As a first step, Ofgem requested that suppliers publish all domestic tariffs. In a statement to MoneySavingExpert.com, an Ofgem spokesperson, said: "We will closely monitor the situation, including to make sure that the market is operating competitively on price alongside customer service and innovative products, and to make sure that suppliers are meeting their obligations to the most vulnerable.
"As a first step, we are asking suppliers to clearly publish all their domestic tariffs to provide customers and third-party intermediaries with complete transparency."
Martin went on to detail that he was 'grateful' that Ofgem had listened to his call to 'try and make the energy fixing market more transparent'. He continued: "As I said in my letter, I understand the difficulties in bringing in new regulation.
"But at least this request means it is on the radar and firms know it will be frowned upon if they don’t publish the tariff info. We have already started to receive some commitments from the big firms that will do this. We will of course continue to monitor if this ask from Ofgem is working.
"If not, we will push for this to be moved from guidance into regulation to ensure all firms fulfil their obligation."
