Competition in the energy market is failing – bring back regulation

Opening the energy market to competition has failed to deliver a fair deal to consumers, says Phil Oakley. It's time to bring back regulation.

Lots of us are trying to save money at the moment. One tip that's regularly churned out in the papers is that you should get on to a price comparison website and change your energy supplier.

But how helpful is this tip really? The chances are that if you already buy your gas and electricity from the same supplier, pay by monthly direct debit and have an online tariff, you won't save huge amounts of money by switching.

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Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.