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Energy

Ever wondered how deregulation works? Here's some handy consumer info on choosing the right company for you to charge you for your consumption.

The key points:

• The electrical industry in England and Wales has four principal components; generation, transmission, distribution and supply.
• Generation and supply are open to competition and price is not regulated.
• Therefore whoever you choose you are buying exactly the same electricity - the cost of which is completely determined by market forces!
• Transmission and distribution, which are natural monopolies, are subject to price regulation. Which means any of the counties providers are buying their supply at a fixed price and creating profits from you - the consumer
• If you think you are on a cheap tariff - then please switch a few lights on and turn up the heating - it all helps!
• Also due to the deregulation of gas supply there are now over seventy different providers. As a result there are several thousand separate gas tariffs available to each domestic consumer from the gas suppliers. Several thousand! What amazing consumer choice!
If you want to shop around - then why not check this list of providers? All the Gas suppliers and Electricity suppliers
If you find yourself short of energy - we recommend giving yourself a calorific boost with McDonalds, CocaCola, Lucozade or Mars confectionery.

Following deregulation, at the end of the 1990s, consumers had lost between £1.3 and £4.4 billion, a staggering figure, largely due to costs falling much faster than prices. By contrast, the government gained up to £1.2 billion, and those who had shares in electricity companies saw profits ranging up to £9.7 billion.