Everybody’s happy that the All Party Small Shops Group is getting somewhere in its bid to get better, fairer energy costs and contracts for small businesses. But when energy broker Makeitcheaper (MIC) gets in touch to warn about “the dangers of allowing the Big Six energy companies to invent their own new rules - and rates - to replace rollover energy contracts, which they have all now ‘volunteered’ to phase out”, then one needs to pay attention.

Spokesman for MIC, Nick Heath, went so far as to lump the Big Six together as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.

Jonathan Elliott, who founded MIC in 2007 and has helped more than 200,000 small businesses get cheaper prices on their energy, was at the all-party meeting and has since written to Priti Patel MP, who chaired the meeting.

He laid out the steps he believes the group should push for. He’d like consistent processes in the post-rollover environment “since each of the Big Six has decided to implement their own flavour of ceasing rollovers and all plan to do it at different stages in the next 12 months, and to varying groups of customers. How confusing!”

Transparency is what everybody wants (except possibly the energy companies).

And by the way, MIC points out that it can negotiate ‘mitigation’ prices for customers in the period between their renewal window closing and a new contract commencing. It may be too late to switch to a different energy supplier, but it can still get you a better price than the standard renewal (rollover) offer from the one you are obliged to stay with.

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