MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis has warned about “worrying issues” of energy companies increasing customers’ direct debits disproportionately to the price cap increase, even for those in credit. He told MPs: “There is no reason to double someone’s direct debit when they’re in credit and the price cap is going up 54%.
“That’s not mathematically sound and it’s a breach of licence conditions. “I have been very concerned that a number of companies are doing it to improve their cash-flow situation at the expense of their customers, and I would like to see the regulator crack down on that quite substantially.”
He added: “It’s important to remember that there is no competition in the market any more. This is not a market… no one can switch.”
Martin told the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee: “Frankly, there was a point where one man and his dog could set up an energy company.” He added that now: “We’ve had a concertinaing of competition.”
Mr Lewis said the problem with getting people’s credit back “has been horrendous”.
Gillian Cooper, head of energy policy at Citizens Advice, has told MPs that the Government’s current energy bill support measures are “insufficient for the scale of the crisis we’re facing”, adding: “We have to recognise that there are millions of households that are simply unable to cope with the energy bill increases that we’re going to see this year.”
