It's time to simplify gas and electricity deals

The news that Consumer Focus wants OFGEM to investigate complex and confusing gas and electricity deals is to be welcomed. The number of different price tariffs available and the way some of the energy companies present their information does little to help most ordinary consumers get a good deal.

I've been interested in the way energy companies operate ever since the gas and electrcity market was deregulated in 1998. At the time I interviewed a marketing expert who warned about the dangers of confusion or complexity marketing - where companies design and market their deals in a way that will confuse customers.

Twelve years on and what's the evidence that the market is working for consumers? Well, the energy companies would point to the fact that millions of people benefit from cheaper deals as a result of being able to shop around. But many others don't engage in the process or switch without being convinced they'll be better off.

And OFGEM's own research in 2008 showed that over half of people who switched to a new deal did so on the doorstep (and 40% of those ended up on a worse tariff than the one they were originally on).

Consumer Focus's letter makes interesting reading. It includes examples of advertised discounts that are nigh on impossible for many consumers to qualify for, exit fees that customers don't realise they'll end up paying and a baffling array of deals that most ordinary mortals find impossible to compare.

No one's saying that companies should only be allowed to have one tariff or that they shouldn't compete against each other for customers. But gas and electricity are basic commodities - not luxuries - so is it really too much to ask that we can understand the information energy companies produce, work out whether we're on a good deal and, if not, get a better one?