Hi Dave, on the 14th September, we posted our full response to Ofgem's letter about energy prices - we also promised to post a shorter, simple response as the full version was very lengthy! Here's our shorter response:
The suggestion that retail energy prices should be falling in line with wholesale prices ignores the fact that between January 2007 and September 2008, wholesale gas costs increased by 200% while npower's own gas prices increased by only 27%.
Ofgem has stated that energy suppliers are not actually making a profit. We're also facing increases in costs such as transportation, Carbon Emissions Reduction Targets - and regulatory and social obligations. Despite this, we are investing in major programmes to improve our customer service and ensure the lights are kept on.
We welcome an open dialogue with customers (and non npower customers) to discuss these very real challenges that the energy industry is currently facing - if anyone has any questions about our prices, they are more than welcome to contact us.
The Energy Retail Association has produced a guide to the domestic energy market, which is designed to present some of the issues currently facing energy companies in a really nice, clear format.
