October 4th, 2009 
admin The gas and electricity watchdog ‘needs to do more’. The gas and electricity watchdog is facing criticism from consumer groups over some of its new strategies.
Campaigners at Consumer Focus and Which? believe that Ofgem needs to do more to help customers, the Times reported.
Ofgem has made efforts recently to improve customer billing systems, introducing new licences aimed at closing the price gap between general tariffs and cheaper online-only tariffs.
An initiative to provide extra information on customer bills is also scheduled to be launched in July 2010.
It is hoped that this measure will allow households to compare gas and electricity prices better, by making it clear how the cost of their current energy usage is calculated.
Meanwhile, increased regulations governing “hard sell” techniques from energy suppliers will come into effect in January.
Speaking to the newspaper, Fiona Cochrane at Which? said that more rules were needed.
“Changes to tariffs and charges can still be incredibly difficult to understand – a problem that Ofgem needs to address urgently,” she said.
Referring to the new licensing scheme, Zoe McLeod, energy expert at Consumer Focus, added: “These new rules are a step in the right direction, but if Ofgem is not going to enforce them, then the rules aren’t worth the paper they are written on.”
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