Energy provides get frosty reception from customers
Public perception of the UK’s largest energy providers has dropped after November brought steep price hikes for households.
The changes will bring record-high gas and electricity bills over the winter, even in spite of the fact that wholesale rates, at exactly 1.7p per kilowatt-hour, are half the level they were in 2008 when the price went up to 3.2p/kWh. As well as this, profits for the companies have also been healthy for most of the year.
On the 12th of November, British Gas shocked the energy sector by revealing that it would increase its gas and electricity rates by an average rate of seven per cent, as a large chunk of its customers face 10% rises too. However, this was not the first announcement as it followed Scottish & Southern Energy’s decision to raise raise prices for Scots by 9.4%. Following suit, similar raises are apparently on their way from Scottish Power and its rival npower.
Understandably, these moves have not gone unnoticed by the UK’s public, with YouGov’s BrandIndex “Buzz” score registering significant drops for every one of the five energy giants in November. Of them all, British Gas took the largest hit with its score dropping to an all-time low of -43.2 by the 19th November before managing to recover slightly to -34.8 at the end of the month. Centrica, the company that operates British Gas, told analysts from City that a week after it announced its increases, profits were heading to be above expectations, eventually hitting a peak of £2.2bn.
From all of the forces in the industry, just one company, EDF Energy, pledged not to increase its bills over the winter period.