Gossage was right (about the watchdog with no bite)

Energywatch has taken a predictable approach to a price hike by British Gas and advised consumers to switch to cheaper suppliers. The price increase means British Gas consumers will see an average price rise of 12.4% on gas and 9.4% on electricity.

The chief executive of energywatch, Allan Asher, said: “This is a body blow to consumers. British Gas supplies 12.5 million homes with gas and 5.8 million homes with electricity. This price rise is going to add millions to bills and expose many thousands of households to the risk of fuel poverty.”

Yet, despite this apparent outrage, energywatch can do little more than say that the onus is on consumers to look around for other suppliers while “energywatch will be calling for an investigation into the wholesale market”.

In the August issue of Electrical Review, Gossage pre-empts energywatch’s latest announcement. With an accurate attack on the watchdog’s traditional ‘switch away’ response to price increases, Gossage questions the need for the watchdog when most of its consumer representation work has been taken over by Ofgem – a