As the energy crisis continues, Tariff Watch is a new series of quarterly reports from the Warm This Winter coalition, produced in partnership with Future Energy Associates (FEA) revealing the secret data behind Britain's broken energy system.
Millions of British households are still struggling to pay their energy bills, yet Britain’s broken energy system allows energy suppliers to increase the profit they make on each customer the higher energy prices rise.
The Warm This Winter campaign commissioned the Tariff Watch report to reveal how much profit energy companies are making from British households and which regions are being hit hardest by variations in costs.
While millions of Brits are facing another winter of high bills, the second Warm This Winter Tariff Watch report reveals that energy firms are spending £242 per customer on operating costs. These costs make up 13% of customers’ bills, with energy firms spending almost as much on marketing, which includes sponsoring football teams, event venues and creating TV adverts (c.11% of operating costs), as they do on operating customer contact centres (c.12% of operating costs).
It’s galling to think that our energy bills are so high because energy firms spend as much on sponsoring Premier League football teams and expensive TV adverts as they do on customer service. But while households suffer, the Government sits on its hands and refuses to introduce tariff reforms which could bring down bills and help people stay warm this winter. Find out more below.
Our inaugural report reveals that household energy suppliers - the companies which provide consumers with gas and electricity - could rack up £1.74bn in profits over the next 12 months from customers’ energy bills. To put this figure into context - that’s enough money to completely wipe out GB energy debt through a “Help to Repay” scheme and still leave suppliers in profit to the tune of half a billion pounds. What’s more, this is in addition to any extra profit made from Ofgem’s Covid and Ukraine allowances which caused British Gas' recent record numbers.
Britain’s energy system is broken. Without fundamental overhaul of the energy grid and energy tariffs, households will continue to lose out while suppliers will profit. In the meantime, the experts at FEA have some suggestions around finding the best deal. Find out more below.
