Letter: Hard choices as power costs rise

The first option is not realistic, especially as Ofgem's research shows that around four in ten households have never switched energy suppliers. The third option of a competition commission referral should also be ruled out. With the huge amount of investment required in our energy sources and supplies, now is not the time to tie the industry up in a lengthy process that will cause risk and uncertainty.

We believe that the right approach is to make the market work better for consumers. Key to this is ensuring that consumers are in a position to make informed choices as this will give them the confidence and authority to use the market to their advantage.

Some of the remedies it could consider are a high-profile campaign to build consumer education and confidence in the market; greater clarity and simplification of pricing; and making sure suppliers provide simple, clear and easy to understand bills. Further work is required on annual statements. They are poorly designed, badly labelled and difficult to identify. We would like to see clearly labelled, simple and consistent annual statements that will give people the information they need to make informed choices.

Household energy bills are likely to increase significantly in the future as a result of the huge amount of investment needed. We would like to see Ofgem work with the industry to calculate a total cost per household of the entire programme of investment and to make this figure public so that households can start to take preventative measures. Not only will it help them to prepare, but it should act as a stimulus for people to start to behave like consumers and to start using the competitive market to find ways to lower the cost of their energy bills.

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com