Last December the CMA outlined provisional remedies for the prepayment sector (PPS). In its response to the remedies, published this month, big six supplier SSE claimed they are “not supported by evidence” and are “outdated”.
“Vigorous competition and abundant new entrants that can be observed in the PPS… entirely dispel any suggestion that suppliers somehow face ‘softened incentives’ to compete for these customers,” the company said in its response.
SSE added that levels of switching and the increasing numbers of suppliers active in the PPS “clearly show that suppliers are engaging with and acquiring customers”.
The energy supplier also argued that the switching remedies are “outdated” as they fail to reflect recent improvements, and that the investigation relies heavily on Ofgem reports that “fail to reflect recent (or imminent) market developments”. It said the CMA fails to “investigate the matters further itself”.
SSE was in favour of proposed changes to the protocol of assignment of debt for prepayment meters, designed to allow customers who are in debt to switch more easily.
The CMA is expected to udpate its provisional remedies in March and issue its final report in June 2016.
Read Utility Week’s analysis, ‘Prepayment meters: the industry talks back’ here