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Price hikes 'fuel mistrust of energy suppliers'
06/12/10
Edited by Tom Bardsley.Recent rises in gas and electricity prices have fuelled consumers' mistrust of utility companies - and the situation will only get worse unless the industry becomes more transparent.
This is according to Emma Adler of Consumer Focus, who argued that the latest increases to charges will also raise worries for many residential property owners about paying their heating bills this winter.
"Customers will be baffled as to why they have seen only tiny price cuts when wholesale costs have been so low for so long, yet suppliers hike prices as soon as wholesale costs start to edge up," she said.
The expert warned that trust in the energy sector will suffer further when companies pass £200 million of infrastructure investment on to households over the next decade.
Ms. Adlwer stated that without major improvements in the transparency of the industry, it could soon be impossible to tell if customers are getting a fair deal from the market.
According to a recent poll by Which?, 86 per cent of consumers are worried about energy prices.
