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Ovo Energy has slammed the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) plans to force suppliers to share data on customers who have been on a standard variable tariff for more than three years.
An Ovo spokesperson said: “We have grave concerns that the sharing of customer data, even with strict controls on data protection, will result in many customers receiving unwanted marketing information that may further dissuade them from switching suppliers.
“More generally, we consider it unlikely that increasing the frequency of supplier communications to customers, in whatever form, represents a long term solution to improving levels of engagement in the retail energy market.”
The supplier also highlights comments from Martin Cave, one of five members on the investigation, who refused to sign off on the remedies. The CMA report notes his views that the “provisional retail remedy package was unlikely to succeed in reducing, in a timely way, the significant level of detriment identified”. He suggested instead a short-term price cap, covering a substantially larger number of customers, to reset the market.
The final report from the CMA is expected in June 2016.
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