Stop ripping off customers hurt by ever rising bills

Broadband consumers were the most vocal about getting a raw deal (PA) (PA Wire)

The still widespread pricing practices identified by Citizens Advice in its report today would be disturbing at the best of times.

But as millions of families drift towards the cost of living abyss facing them this winter they are nothing short of outrageous. Capitalism maybe the least flawed method of generating and allocating wealth we have — but it has to be seen to be functioning fairly to carry voters with it.

Thanks in part to the extraordinary vacuum at the heart of this Government, the emergency plan that the finest brains of Whitehall should have been drawing up this summer has been left unwritten.

It will therefore largely behove the private sector to act with self-restraint to make sure that its customers are not victims of dubious smart practices that it might have got away with while the sun shone.

And of all of those, punishing customers who stay loyal by seeking new business through an endless blizzards of new gimcrack introductory offers must be one of the most cynical.

Today’s report from Citizens Advice finds that more than nine million adults — mostly broadband consumers — are paying the price for regulators failing to crack the whip.

As summer turns to autumn, and the next energy price cap kicks in just as central heating is turned on again all over Britain, families will be drawing up their own plans for coping with the crisis.

They will not forget which companies had their back when they needed help most — and which ones tried to rip them off.

@JonPrynn