ENERGY suppliers are failing to explain to customers how to accurately compare tariffs, leaving them potentially unable to choose the best deal, a watchdog has warned.
Which? carried out a mystery shopping exercise by calling 13 suppliers six times each, asking them to explain the Tariff Comparison Rate (TCR), regulator Ofgem's new price comparison tool for consumers.
The TCR is similar to an APR (annual percentage rate) for credit cards and tells customers how much a tariff costs per kilowatt hour based on medium usage, and is intended as a guide to help compare deals.
However, tariffs with the low TCR are not always the cheapest deal, which is why it is important suppliers can clearly explain how it works to customers.
Which? said it received precise information during just four of the calls (five per cent), with only E.On and npower giving an accurate description of the TCR - but then only in two of the six calls they both received.
Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, said: "If the energy companies can't even explain how to accurately compare tariffs then their customers stand no chance."
An Ofgem spokesman said: "Ofgem has already told suppliers they must improve their customer service, so they have to make sure their staff can properly explain the tariff comparison rate to their customers."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article