What is expected of each service provider

March 23rd, 2008

Requirement One.

1. Where a consumer chooses to search by price, results should be presented strictly in

terms of best price.

2. A service provider must provide impartial advice, not advice that is biased in favour of

one or more particular gas or electricity suppliers.

3. A service provider must list each supplier it has a commission agreement with. This list

must be displayed prominently on, or accessible from, the results pages.

4. Where consumers can’t automatically switch to a supplier through the service provider’s

site, the service provider should not recommend an alternative supplier.

Requirement Nine

March 7th, 2008

The service provider must have effective consumer complaint and enquiry handling procedures

in place and respond to any complaint or enquiry within seven working days of receipt.

Requirement Eight

March 7th, 2008

The service provider must comply with an annual audit undertaken by an auditor appointed by

energywatch. The cost of the audit will be borne by the service providers.

Requirement Seven

February 24th, 2008

Prices and price comparisons must be accurate and state when they were last updated.

7.1 Calculation assumptions

The assumptions that a service provider bases its calculations on should include:

discounts for paying by a certain method (e.g. monthly direct debit)

dual fuel discounts

online discounts

compulsory paperless billing discounts

fixed charges (e.g. a fixed monthly membership fee)

The assumptions that a service provider bases its calculations on should not include:

introductory sign up offers that may be for a limited time/one-time discounts/special

offers

discounts that depend on customers behaving in a certain way (e.g. prompt pay)

discounts that apply to other services that a supplier may add to a product offering

non-price offers

7.2 Updating tariffs

A service provider must update tariffs within 2 working days of a price change coming into

effect.

Requirement six

February 3rd, 2008

Customers should also be invited to consider quality of service issues and energy

efficiency programmes and be told where to find this information.

Requirement 5

January 18th, 2008

Prices from no less than five of the cheapest suppliers must be listed. Prices must include VAT

(and state that they do so).

Requirement 4

January 17th, 2008

Payment methods must include:

standard credit by cash/cheque

monthly and quarterly direct debit

prepayment meter

Requirement 3

January 15th, 2008

The service provider must be a company that runs its own website and uses its own tariff

database and calculator.

Requirement 2

January 1st, 2008

This is the requirement 2:

The service provider must include price comparisons for all currently available tariffs for all licensed suppliers (for gas, electricity and dual fuel). Comparisons should be on a like for like basis. If they do not cover “historic” tariffs that are no longer generally available then this should be stated clearly.

Requeriment One

December 31st, 2007

This is the requeriment one:

The service provider must be independent of any gas or electricity supplier. It can takecommission from suppliers but this must not influence the provision of information.The service provider must state clearly each supplier it receives commission from.Advertisements from suppliers or their agents should not be accepted.”