Energy firms accused of hoarding nearly £2billion of customers' money

Companies are not banned from using their customer’s money, but a report into Ofgem’s performance as a regulator by Oxera, an analysis firm, found some of the energy businesses that collapsed this year were dependant on that money.

Avro and Utility Point were reported to be among the firms where cash paid in advance by customers represented more than 80% of the firms’ total assets.Ofgem has said companies must announce if customer credit balances make up more than half of their assets. Christine Farnish, who left Ofgem’s board after an argument over the energy price cap, said: “Energy firms are allowed to put their metaphorical hand into a customer’s pocket and use advance customer payments to fund their own businesses.

“It’s my guess that hard-pressed families have no idea that part of their energy direct debits are used to provide cheap financing for their supplier, rather than actually paying for energy consumed.”

Nationalise them, only way

Nothing will be done.They really are taking the piss. And the Govt? What Govt? Totally inept and on the same wavelength with Energy companies.They really r laughing at us.. unbelievable.

Tonestiger They are doing exactly what for-profit companies are supposed to do. Illegal? Punish 'em. Legal? Change the law. (but be careful what you wish for...)

they've been doing this for years, don't sign up to direct debits with them

Criminal.

hoarding it to pay the due bills? Nothing wrong with that

They don't hold a penny of mine. Pay for what you use is the answer.

In one sense this is unavoidable, just like a bank. So pay interest to credit balances at the BoE rate plus 1% calculated monthly and implement a safety scheme where creditors money is fully protected up to, say, £5k? Consumers first, its our money.

Capitalism: Using the populace as milk cows. A failing NHS, an energy crisis, sending billions of our peoples money to a foreign land when we ourselves are in crisis. Yeah, all makes sense to me👌🏼

Moved to Tory donors, then the remainder shifted to cayman islands

What will be done about it?

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Source: MENnewsdesk - 🏆 23. / 69 Read more »