The small business sector has welcomed the introduction of new energy measures which came into force on 26th June 2017. The measures protect microbusinesses from practices including locking small firms into automatic rollover contracts and failing to publish details of all tariffs available. Also microbusinesses will only need to provide two relevant pieces of information – a postcode and rate of consumption – to get a personalised quote.
The measures follow the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) investigation into the energy market which has taken two years to complete. It concluded that 45% of small businesses were stuck on standard variable tariffs.
The CMA’s recommendations were published in June 2017. The industry has welcomed the changes as a step in the right direction to ensure that, with published prices and a ban on unfair automatic rollover terms, there will be some much needed transparency to the energy market for microbusinesses.
It is widely recognised that large businesses can save significant amounts by testing the market for their energy supply but microbusinesses, like residential users, that rely on keeping overheads down to survive, are disadvantaged by the practices of energy suppliers to date.
It is a worrying state of affairs that, at the present time, nearly half of all microbusinesses are paying more than necessary. With the general trend of rising energy costs, it is even more important to ensure that the best deal is secured for the consumer.