The Heat Is On

Tenon Saw has already posted a fascinating piece on the dangerous waters that is the energy market. I will not therefore detail  my recent struggle to find a tariff which did not make me feel like a coach traveller left  naked and shivering in the pouring rain, in the dead of night on a blasted heath having been robbed at gun and knife point by dastardly Dick and his gang of cut throats.

Instead a few questions.

Why a regulator? OFGEM has been around since energy privatisation in the '80's, yet there is still no industry wide common approach in providing the consumer with basis information to allow one to straightforwardly compare pricing.
 
Why  so many different tariffs? Go to any suppliers web site and you'll be confronted with a maze of products. You can't begin to compare similar products across suppliers. The way the products are structured is deliberately complicated - you are herded towards the deals that suit the company not the consumer.

Comparison websites; friend or foe? I'm starting to think they now are part of the problem. It is in their interest that tariffs, plans are complicated and confusing. I'd even go as far as to say their existence encourages companies to offer a maze of products.

Do you shop around or throw your hands up in the air - life's too short to spend days trying to hunt down the best deal?