'An open letter to the energy select committee on comparison sites' blog discussion

A question about : 'An open letter to the energy select committee on comparison sites' blog discussion

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's An open letter to the energy select committee about comparison sites Blog.

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Best answers:

• If only CEC did show ALL suppliers / tariffs then Martin would have cause to complain - glass houses and all that !!
  CEC shows I am currently with Zog for gas but does not show any Zog tariffs available. Other people have mentioned the same problem but CEC have done nothing about it.
• Hi Molerat
  We absolutely do include Zog energy on Cheap Energy Club both if you're an existing Zog customer and in the results as a new provider. If you could get in touch with us so we can try and work out why you're not seeing it on energyclub@moneysavingexpert.com, that would be great as we'd hate to think anyone wasn't seeing a full results set. Thanks Archna
  
• Good letter, but during the evidence session Peter Plumb from MoneySuperMarket seemed to be speaking on behalf of MSE too.
  He mentions the cheap energey club and your fee disclosure a few times. See the evidence session on the parliament.uk website from around 11:36 onwards for a few minutes (I can't post a link as a new user).
  So I'm not sure the committee would've (or could've) considered inviting MSE given that MSE is actually part of the MoneySuperMarket Group on whose behalf they believed Peter Plumb was speaking.
• Hi beansontoast,
  While part of the same group, MSE is run completely separately to MSM and Martin is a journalist and campaigner so would have a different approach.
• Which? should have been questioned because it defaulted depending on commission but, unlike the five businesses that appeared, is a charity.
  Moneysavingexpert was represented because Peter Plumb of Moneysupermarket.com Group which owns MSE and two other comparison sites gave evidence.
  He was not questioned about CEC's top picks which is a device that leads people to more expensive tariffs that MSE earns commission on. Top pick for CEC's first collective switch for pre payment meters was utterly shocking exploitation. I checked for a vulnerable customer who would have been monstrously overcharged taking CEC's top pick compared to Ebico which does not pay CEC commission.
  I think I am correct in saying all seven so called top pick collective switch recommendations have not been the cheapest but all have paid CEC commission.
  I recommend that the bosses who appeared should all retitle themselves editors in chiefs, introduce editor's top picks, team up their editorial websites with editorial channels and stop paying to advertise. This is how CEC operates and it has an unfair advantage, the other comparison sites have no choice but to fully switch to saying they are journalistic businesses.
• Our intention is to help people switch and save money. Yes we earn money from it - we are transparent about that.
• Well well, Zog have miraculously appeared on my CEC quote.
• Hi molerat
  Yes, off the back of the email you sent we found a technical glitch that meant zog wasn't appearing for a handful of people. Thank you for flagging that.
  It would be really helpful in future if you could drop us an email if you spot any glitches. We do checks ourselves but this was a really niche problem. The best email address is energyclub at moneysavingsavingexpert dot com.
  Thanks
  Archna
• Archna, I was not saying that CEC excludes unaffiliated tariffs. My point was about your seven collective switch tariffs so far, which I believe have all been affiliated.
  (I know unaffiliated tariffs appear in your comparison table, and that I can click through).
  You will be tracking users. If the All Tariffs tab is being used, are you saying people are scrolling down through cheaper deals and signing up for the more expensive Sainsburys tariff?
  https://twitter.com/FoodieBob/status/561272088582176773
  On vouchers, they are a call to action. Some of your view of them probably comes from how effective they are in converting sales. But they complicate what for some is a life saving decision and introduce risk, especially as CEC does not compensate its customers if vouchers do not arrive as promised, and this does happen. Ebico was cheapest for the low useage profile who also wanted no standing charge as they house sit to help make ends meet. I showed them the BG tariff and told them about the voucher. We disagree about what's best but thank you for providing the comparison table.
  Btw, there is a tariff on CEC that has a Ј50 exit penalty and Ј30 cashback. The same tariff on other comparison sites has no exit penalty and no cashback. This proves the danger with complicating tariffs, you can be shafted by a supplier doing a deal with CEC and then undermining your claims by agreeing a more favourable deal with a different commercial partner.
  As CEC is journalistic research, have you thought about the danger of a non paying cheapest supplier using comparison tables or commercial companies like The Big Deal to convert huge numbers of sales but then does not have energy contracts in place to supply, is forced to buy at higher prices and it all goes wonky?
• My point was that we include unaffiliated tariffs in our top picks section when it merits it. The vast majority of suppliers have commercial relationships with suppliers, so just based on pure probability you will see affiliated links in there more often.
  Re this point:
  ]Btw, there is a tariff on CEC that has a Ј50 exit penalty and Ј30 cashback. The same tariff on other comparison sites has no exit penalty and no cashback. This proves the danger with complicating tariffs, you can be shafted by a supplier doing a deal with CEC and then undermining your claims by agreeing a more favourable deal with a different commercial partner.
  Can you let me know which tariff you're referring to, as this doesn't sound right or possible.
  Thanks
• Fresh Fixed Price Feb 2016 v1 Ј899.60 Monthly Fixed Direct Debit Ј75.00 Ј215.66 savings per annum
• Hello Archna, on another comparison site this tariff is shown with a cross for No Exit Charge which I took to mean no exit charge!
  Thinking about it, the cross probably means there is an exit charge. Something for you to take up with Ofgem. Sorry for my mistake if a cross means there is an exit charge.
• Well I switched. Just started paying to new provider & got my switching fee - all good so far.
  Came home to letter off debt collector who had been instructed by previous supplier for non-payment. Never had a bill, account only set up after much difficulty as only moved into house in Sept.
  No idea how the bill was calculated & ,to add insult to injury, there's an admin fee to pay!! Threat says if I don't pay now it will affect my credit rating.!
• https://mobile.twitter.com/MartinSLe...46621582905344
  It will look very suspicious to change to more accurate projected savings the week after promoting a massive collective switch. Why not do it before and don't say Ofgem would not let you.