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Eon Price Rise ‘Disingenuous’ Says Martin Lewis
| Author: AboutMyArea HeadOffice | Published: 10th December 2012 13:49 |
Energy giant announces price rises just after its 'no hikes pledge' ends
MoneySavingExpert.com is calling for tougher regulation of energy company price promises after Eon announced an 8.7% energy price rise to come into effect on 18 January.
The hike for millions of customers will come just 18 days after a promise to freeze prices ends on 31 December, which says: "Eon promises no residential price rises in 2012."
Martin Lewis, creator of MoneySavingExpert.com, comments: "For the last few months, Eon has used its price promise as a devious form of marketing. At the beginning of October, in a BBC Radio 5 Live debate, I offered an Eon spokesperson a £1,000 bet to charity that it would raise prices in January as soon as the promise ended. The spokesperson refused to take it, but Eon continued to tout its 'we're not raising prices this year' promise.
"This is disingenuous. It's important to remember that from the date of applying to switch, to the switch actually taking place, it can take up to two months. That means the gain from Eon's promise for most people who fell for its spiel is negligible.
"This isn't the first time it's happened. From my memory, every time we've seen these price promises before, companies hike prices as soon as they end. It's time we saw a crackdown; a simple rule that says when a customer switches company to a new tariff, they must be kept on that price for the first six months. This would add confidence to the switching process."
What should people do?
"Now all the big six companies have announced price hikes, we truly have a level playing field for comparison. So anyone who hasn't switched in the last year, regardless of their provider, should be looking at their bills and getting onto a Consumer Focus-approved comparison site to see if they can cut costs.
"Someone with typical use on a standard tariff is paying £1,400 a year. The cheapest variable tariffs on the same usage are at £1,120 - or the same person could choose to lock in at £1,180 with a fixed tariff that guarantees no hikes this winter or next, and where you're free to leave when you want."
Full info on how to switch energy tariff:
www.moneysavingexpert.com/energy
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