In the late 1990′s the United Kingdom opened its doors to create a more deregulated energy market by allowing completion in what was a static closed market. To try and explain this, it means that the households and small businesses have range choices of who provides their gas and electricity. The increase in competition was planned to help drive down energy costs have not created as much choice as you might expect.
Before deregulation in the Uk energy market there was very little or no choice in who supplied you gas and electricity. This lack of choice for home owners and business to choose who provides their gas and electricity meant the government had to try and control these companies to stop them inflating energy prices. The main national suppliers were British Gas for gas and dependent on your location in the country there was regional Electricity Company.
The monopoly energy supplier in the UK for many years was British Gas. Simply put this means that they were the only supplier of gas to homes and business across the country. The only other choice was to have an LPG gas tank in your garden, as more commonly found in rural areas.
There were fourteen regional energy companies that provided electricity to homes and business before the energy market deregulated in the UK. This gave only one choice of gas and electricity supplier and they could fix the prices so you no choice in finding a cheaper deal.
The Open energy market in the UK was introduced in phases when it first came in. The first phase opened up the gas market to allow new gas suppliers to come in and try and under cut British Gas the dominant gas supplier. The second phase opened up the electricity market to allow new suppliers to supply electricity in to “host” regions providing choice.
The UK operates a completely opened and fully deregulated energy market. This gives the householder and business man a choice of who suppliers their gas and electricity to their home or their business. The choice is restricted to around 18 different energy suppliers.
Energy suppliers in the UK have a range of “tariffs” that they offer to the consumer. These vary from the more expensive pay as you go tariffs, to paper billing to the cheapest deals on the market, managing you bills online through their web sites.
The UK energy market has seen prices increase over the past number years, year on year. To see what you could save on your energy bills try visiting a gas and electricity price comparison web site www.SaveOnYourBills.co.uk.
