Shopping around for energy

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 is the legal protection you have as a consumer, regardless of what you are buying.

We think long and hard about buying some things, household items or food products, often going out of our way to get a bargain, but we rarely shop around when it comes to our energy provision. Because of this you may be missing out on better deals and tariffs, either through your existing provider, or through an alternative provider.

Only 4% of consumers know their rights when it comes to buying energy and 84% of consumers have never switched energy supplier, preferring to stay with their current provider.

But why? Have a think for a minute then have a go at the quiz below.

You may want to take a look at our Savvy Shopping course for more information about switching to get a better deal!

Common Problems

There are number of reasons why we feel being an energy consumer is confusing or difficult but common problems are such things as :

• not understanding what we signed up to when the product was sold to us
• concerns that our energy supply will be cut off as the switch occurs
• already having existing issues with energy debt.

By far one of the most complained about issues is billing, whether it is too high; incorrect or we simply don’t understand them.

As bill payers we are unhappy when things go wrong but it is common for people not to find out why and just accept that it is what it is. However, it’s really important to discuss problems and queries as quickly as possible in order to ensure your bill remains accurate and that you don’t end up in debit with your energy provider.

We will take a look at bills in more detail later on in the course.