Domestic Fuel Tariffs are Complex BECAUSE the products are simple.

This BBC article says "The regulator said that customers were "bamboozled" by a complex system of tariffs, which have increased from 180 to more than 300 since 2008."


It's interesting to note that a number of simple products have very complex tariffs. Things like

  • domestic fuel
  • mobile contracts
  • land line contracts

are all very simple products with complex tariffs.

Domestic fuel is either electricity or gas and even when I switch suppliers the same supply network is used. All the suppliers have complex tariffs with different initial (so much for the first X units) and extra (then X for the rest) rates. Some have a daily (aka standing) charge and many offer different levels of cash back.

The end result of this is to make comparison shopping much harder. Personally, I use a spreadsheet...

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