Janet Wood
Energy tariffs are boring – perhaps excepting EDF Energy’s new orange blob, which has caused a stir in my free newspaper – and the marketing so lacks invention that a monopoly water supplier won that category in last year’s Utility Awards.
I’d be tempted to switch to an energy deal where I get six months at a rock bottom rate, like I did from my mobile provider. My granny would love to clip out a week’s coupons from her newspaper to get a month’s free energy (and maybe a free energy assessment) – they would be stuck on the fridge, next to the coupons that give her a holiday for £9. I’d like to see more collective switching following the Big Switch. And I’d like the supermarket-type approach that sells essentials at a very low price and lays out the store in the hope I’ll be tempted by high-priced extras all the way to the checkout. I am surprised that supermarkets such as Co-op and M&S, who offer energy deals, haven’t used that to copy other supermarkets’ offers of money off petrol (read energy) for anyone who spends a certain amount in-store.
These may be loss-leaders. In that case, bring them on – they may not meet the Retail Market Review seal of approval, but they would shake up the energy market more than an expensive evergreen tariff.
It’s not predatory pricing, it’s just ferocious competition.
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 4 May 2012.
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