The whole point of the European Union’s policy to deregulate the retail energy supply market in 1996 was to bring to consumers the freedom to choose one energy supplier over another. The hope was that competition would help raise quality of service and help keep prices down. A free market only works as planned, though, when the consumer is well-informed. Britain has the most open and free energy competition in Europe. Yet, a large part of the consumer base never uses the freedom it has to switch suppliers and find the cheapest electricity. The reason is that they are stalled by a number of myths about how the system works. Continue reading →