newsletterApril / MAY 2014

Giving you the power to change

2 April/May 2014

There has been a lot of change this year in the energy market as well as within our own businesses. I have therefore

decided that it is time to have our own newsletter to keep all of our partners up to speed with what we are doing to

address market issues and to highlight any risks or opportunities that are present in both the Domestic and Business

Energy Markets.

We plan to produce this newsletter on a monthly basis and if you would like to contribute an article please drop an

email to our new Marketing Executive Kirstin Rhymer with the article attached and given it is suitable we will try and

include it into our next newsletter.

Equally if you have an issue with how we are performing or think we could perform better by doing something differ-

ent please let us know again by dropping an email to Kirstin. We want to offer you the best online energy compara-

tor experience possible and we can only do that by hearing both the good and the bad.

welcome

3April/May 2014

simpler Clearer Fairer

MArket newsOFGEM have made it easier for consumers to

understand and compare energy tariffs by intro-

ducing SIMPLER CLEARER FAIRER; this will

allow domestic consumers to make more informed

choices over their gas and electricity supply.

siMpler ӹ Stopping complex tiered tariffs- Suppliers will now only be allowed to have one structure for tariffs – a unit rate

(or unit rates for time of use tariffs) and standing charge, which can be zero. This will make tariffs more consistent

and easier to compare.

ӹ Making choosing a new deal simpler- Consumers will only have to choose from four core tariffs for gas and four

for electricity.

ӹ Cash discounts will be simplified - Suppliers will only be able to offer two cash discounts, one for dual fuel (where

a consumer takes gas and electricity from the same supplier) and one for managing an account online. These will

be displayed in a simple pounds-per-year format. OFGEM have banned restrictive discounts which made it dif-

ficult to compare the costs of tariffs

CleArer ӹ Existing suppliers will advise customers regularly in writing which tariff is cheapest for them

ӹ Customers will receive more informative bills which will contain key information about the tariff and energy con-

sumption. Having this to hand will help the consumer in comparing other options available in the market.

ӹ Annual Statements will contain a range of useful information, in an easy to understand form. They will include key

facts about tariffs: rates, discounts, tariff end date and whether termination fees apply. They will also include use-

ful information on how to switch suppliers.

ӹ When suppliers notify of a price increase, they will have to spell out what that means in pounds and pence. This

will make it easier for the consumer to understand the impact such a change will have.

4 April/May 2014

FAirer To help rebuild consumer confidence, since 26 August last year suppliers have had to meet OFGEM’s tough new

standards of conduct so that domestic consumers receive fairer-treatment.

The onus is on suppliers to embed fair treatment of consumers in every level of their organisation. Any brokers or

third party intermediaries that represent suppliers are also bound by the standards of conduct

.

ӹ Suppliers are required to carry out these actions in an honest, transparent and professional manner. They must

make sure that any information given to consumers is clear, easy to understand and written in jargon-free lan-

guage.

ӹ Suppliers will have to make it easy for consumers to contact them and act promptly and courteously to put things

right.

ӹ Suppliers will have to publish statements each year clearly showing the actions they are taking to treat consum-

ers fairly. Non-compliance with the new regulations will result in fines from OFGEM.

5April/May 2014

sUpplier news

Energylinx always strives to include all energy suppli-

ers and you will find suppliers on an Energylinx platform

that you most likely will not find anywhere else. Energy

suppliers like Glide Energy and Zog Energy seem to be

missing from platforms that claim to ‘compare the whole

market’. With another eight new entrants around the cor-

ner we wonder how long it will be until TPIs are required

to carry a mandatory warning if they do not cover whole

of the market.

Energylinx for Business now has 15 suppliers on board

with Axis and EDF recently joining our supply panel. We

believe we offer the widest choice of on-line business

energy supply in the UK. Suppliers continue to provide

prices updates on a weekly basis.

ADMinistrAtiOnEnergylinx for Business would like to remind affiliates

that customers wishing to switch suppliers have to pro-

vide written termination of their contract to their current

supplier within the timescale specified in their current

contract. Customers will be guided by their renewal no-

tice that will come through around 120 days before their

contract is due to finish. If a customer does not provide

a termination notice in accordance with their contractual

terms their contract will rollover and any application to a

new supplier will be rejected.

Customers who have requested an email from us to re-

mind them of their contract ending will receive an email

from their selected comparator which will offer them the

option to utilise the service again. It is worth keeping in

mind that if a business has longer than 120 days left in

their contract then they will not see an accurate compar-

ison position, as not all suppliers provide pricing date in

excess of 120 days forward and thus not all will appear

on the platform.

Affiliates should be aware that there are some sup-

pliers who will decline applications from businesses

in certain sectors; for example pubs or takeaways.

Affiliate partners should make sure that there is no

reason a transfer would be rejected on this basis.

6 April/May 2014

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new web site design. This was brought about to achieve two

goals:

ӹ Compliance with RMR (Retail Market Review)

This meant a change in terminology used and how things like unit rates are displayed to the customer, along

with a new piece of information - the TCR (Tariff Comparison Rate). The TCR is designed a bit like APR, and

has been created with the intention to allow customers to compare one tariff against another and select the

most appropriate by looking at one single piece of information.

We like the concept and fully support the motives underlying it. However, we believe that while well intentioned

in its current form it adds confusion. All our platform comparison results come with PTCR (a Personal Tariff

Comparison Rate) which we believe is a more accurate comparison statistic and is much more like APR as it is

personal to the user. PTCRs were included in the original RMR scope, then removed - we believe that they, will

and should, be back.

ӹ Increasing conversion rates

We have always had market leading conversion rates but we wanted to take this a stage further by enhancing

the platform and making it even easier. As a result, we have seen daily conversion rates significantly excess of

30%, recently peaking at 41.2%. The average for the period since the launch of the website is circa 25%. We

do not believe any other TPI is experiencing conversion metrics of this level.

new website Design

plAtFOrM newsStatistics for Energylinx for Business trading 2014

The platform has seen excellent growth statistics over the first 3 months of the year and this is forecast to continue

with more SME businesses switching on-line and the continued growth of the affiliate partner network.

Despcription January February March

Traffic Growth Month on Month % +58% +21% +57%

Quotes Growth Month on Month % +50% +40% +80%

Applications Growth Month on % +50% +88% +100%

The Energylinx for Business platform now allows business customers to sign their transfer applications and DD mandates electronically for the majority of suppliers. However, affiliates should be aware that for certain suppliers will still require signed documentation which will have to be signed and submitted within 5 days of agreeing the transfer, otherwise the application will be rejected.

7April/May 2014

OFgeM ACCreDiAtiOn AUDit

Energylinx received the results of the latest audit and are

pleased to report that we have been provided with an absolutely

clean bill of health, as has been the case with the last four audits.

We would like to see all audit results published as we believe

that customers have the right to know who gets it right and who

presents incorrect information in the marketplace. It’s all very

well fixing it during or following an audit but we question why a

TPI can create incorrect prices and continue to operate in the

market without sanction or transparency of previous failings.

rMr COMpliAnCe

Energylinx platforms became 100% RMR com-

plaint (Retail Market Review), almost a month earlier

than the 31st March 2014 requirement. The impact

is that we now provide Personal Projections as

opposed to quotes or estimates. We are called a

TPI (Third Party Intermediary) as opposed to a price

comparison service. All tariffs come with a TCR

(Tariff Comparison Rate) (unless it is an economy 7

comparison as OFGEM currently believe this to be

out of scope) and we provide all the information on

a TIL (Tariff Information Label).It sounds exception-

ally complex and fair to say with anything new we

believe that various parties in the market still have

some incorrect information. But at least everyone

ought to be doing something similar.

OFgeM AnD DeCC MArket reViews

Energylinx continues to lobby extensively to ensure

that UK domestic energy market is as transparent

as possible ensuring that all customers have the

opportunity to find easily the very best deal for their

home. With 30 supplier brands in the market and

with 8 more known to be coming to market in the

near future, transparency is key and we lobby hard

to ensure that a customer using a competitor plat-

form where not all suppliers are represented clearly

knows that they are only seeing part of the market.

We also are pushing hard to have transparency on

supplier commissions. We want to display them

on our web platforms as we believe that it is the

customer’s right to know that we earn a fee and we

should not be ashamed of being paid that fee. Un-

surprisingly some of our peers are very quiet on this

issue! Watch this space for update. We believe that

full transparency will occur in 2014.

8 April/May 2014

9April/May 2014

Fsb AwArDs AwArDs

The awards are part of celebrating business Britain, which is

designed to help businesses get recognition and help inspire

other business owners through the UK.

The awards take place in The Waldorf Hilton on May 21st and

Bruce Laird, Chief Operating Officer of Energylinx for Busi-

ness, along with Kate Rose, Head of Energy at Confused.com,

will be attending. You will be able to read up on how we got on

in next month’s newsletter.

Energylinx for Business is delighted to announce that it has reached the final of Online Business of the Year at the

Federation of Small Businesses WorldPlay UK Business Awards.

10 April/May 2014

energYlinXDelighted to be of service to you!

MArie FArMer

If you have any feedback or would like something com-

municated in the next newsletter, please email:

marie.farmer@energylinx.co.uk

CArOline ArChibAlD

For any affiliate related queries, please email:

caroline.archibald@ .co.uk

11April/May 2014

kirstin rhYMer

If you have any feedback or would like something com-

municated in the next newsletter, please email:

kirstin.rhymer@energylinxforbusiness.co.uk

DAViD MOrrisOn

For any affiliate related queries, please email:

david.morrison@energylinxforbusiness.co.uk

Meet the teAM

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TAQUAS CUM InCTIUR, COnE PRATIOR ARCHIL ILIBUS EOSTIOREIUS MAxIMUS SOLORRUnT.

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EnERGYLInx giving you the power to change

EnERGYLInx for business Limited

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FK10 3LP

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