OPINION: Don’t let energy database cause retailers more hassle

Rollover energy contracts and a lack of price
clarity have long been issues for small retailers. So an investigation and consultation by the CMA can only be a good thing, right? Well, up to a point…

Since 2014, the CMA has been investigating how retailers can get a better deal from energy suppliers – whether that’s through the removal of auto-rollover contracts or making it easier to terminate a contract.

However, plans to bring in a database filled with the details of small businesses that allows rival suppliers to target their marketing to those customers could result in an influx of nuisance calls.

The database could be a great idea. It could reach out to disengaged retailers and help them secure better deals, therefore saving them money. But only if there are strict regulations imposed on it

Speaking to retailers for our front page story, they told us how they are already hounded by people trying to sell them things – and they don’t need any more.

“I get calls all the time – 10 a day, minimum. It’s absolutely relentless,” Hitesh Pandya from Kent said.

High Wycombe retailer Raaj Chandarana added: “I feel like there’s already a database and I’m definitely on it. We get a lot of calls – all retailers do.”

The database could be a great idea. It could reach out to disengaged retailers and help them secure better deals, therefore saving them money.

But only if there are strict regulations imposed on it. What retailers don’t need is to be bombarded by phone calls from energy firms trying to whisk them away when they don’t have the time or the need for a new supplier.