In message , Andrew Gabriel
writes
It's closd now. It was covered on one of the Radio 4 programs.
The best deal Which could get could only handle about 1/10th of
the people who signed up.

Why was that then?

The big suppliers wouldn't take part, or wouldn't give good
pricing. The small suppliers are limited on their available
power, and can't suddenly muster up 10 times what they've
already agreed to buy on the wholesale markets.
I see the press are pointing out there are cheaper individual
deals available today than the Which? deal.

The Which? scheme probably got too big, at least, for how the
energy markets work today. There are many other smaller schemes
running successfully. I suspect you just can't walkaround
trying to buy energy for 30,000 homes (IIRC) - there isn't
that much slop in the market, and trying to buy that much
energy in one go will significantly force prices up. (I know
that no more energy is actually required, but the markets
don't work that way - it was already committed to other
suppliers.) Also, the big suppliers would not have wanted it
to work, and their lack of cooperation probably had a big
impact.

My electricity is purchased through a *buying group*. Currently roughly
50% of the domestic tariff. Probably needs to be re-negotiated shortly
so we'll see!

I don't know how many group members took up the offer but probably in
the low hundreds. The elco fitted a *phone home* smart meter.

regards


--
Tim Lamb