{"id":83875,"date":"2017-09-01T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=5627eee908864116fc4eb358479f49f3"},"modified":"2017-09-01T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T09:00:00","slug":"press-release-cma-makes-switching-easier-for-700000-uk-energy-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=83875","title":{"rendered":"Press release: CMA makes switching easier for 700,000 UK energy customers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>This follows an extensive investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (<abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr>) into the energy sector. This found that around two thirds of customers using restricted meters, such as Economy 10 and THTC, could save an average of \u00a3154 per year by switching energy tariff.<\/p>\n<p>In the past, the cost and hassle of changing their meter could have proved a major barrier for many of these people to switch to a cheaper deal. However, the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s new measures mean that restricted meter customers can now more easily access a wide range of different deals and rates.<\/p>\n<p>The <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> is also demanding that suppliers offer:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>reminders about switching, via bills,<\/li>\n<li>contact details for Citizens Advice or Citizens Advice Scotland (as appropriate), and<\/li>\n<li>further information to assist them with switching (eg their total consumption, their consumption levels by register, their meter type, their current tariff type).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To help people with restricted meters to get the best deal on their energy, the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> has made the additional recommendation that Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland become recognised providers of information and support to these customers. Both agencies have now confirmed that they will implement this recommendation.<\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> Director of Remedies Susannah Meeke said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We want to help as many people as possible to shop around for the best energy deal for them. But, many people on restricted meters have effectively been prevented from doing this because they would need to change their meter \u2013 which is both costly and a hassle.<\/p>\n<p>Now they will be able to switch like any other energy customer \u2013 and potentially lower their bill by up to \u00a3154 a year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">We welcome the fact that Citizens Advice is now offering additional information and support for these customers to help them explore their options.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h4 id=\"notes-for-editors\">Notes for editors<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>The <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> is the UK\u2019s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law. For more information on the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> see our  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/competition-and-markets-authority\">homepage<\/a> or follow us on Twitter <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CMAgovUK\">@CMAgovuk<\/a>, <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cma-gov-uk\/\">Flickr<\/a> and <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/competition-and-markets-authority\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Restricted meters are those which apply different rates across different times of the day. Examples of affected energy customers include those with Economy 10 and THTC meters.<\/li>\n<li>Suppliers with fewer than 50,000 customers do not have to accept restricted meter customers, although they may choose to do so. A large majority of suppliers have more than 50,000 customers.<\/li>\n<li>Media enquiries should be directed to <a href=\"mailto:press@cma.gsi.gov.uk\">press@cma.gsi.gov.uk<\/a> or call: 07774 134814<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New CMA measures will help 700,000 restricted meter customers, including around 400,000 in Scotland, to switch without changing their meter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83875"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83882,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83875\/revisions\/83882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}