CC Publishes Final Report
The Competition Commission (CC) has published
its final report confirming its provisional conclusion that there
is an adverse effect on competition in the supply of domestic
bulk lpg in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
CC chairman, Peter
Freeman, who chaired the investigation, said: “We
have now finished this investigation. Our conclusion is that
competition is not working as well as it should in this market
and that lpg consumers are losing out as a result.
"In particular, if customers have to
change supplier, they have to change their tank as well. They
face a number of other difficulties
in switching supplier, both in terms of their contracts and the
information made available to them.
"As a result, we will be introducing
measures to enable tank transfer when a customer wishes to switch
supplier, making the switching
process easier, improve the terms of customer contracts and give
customers better information.”
The CC expects to implement
these remedies by way of statutory orders to be made towards
the end of 2006, with the remedies
to take effect after a transition period of up to nine months
after the orders are made.
Steve Walmsley, chairman of ALGED,
said: “Although no one
particularly likes change being forced upon them, we feel that
the required changes to our business practices are reasonable
and workable, as long as the industry itself can pull together
and agree upon the correct methodology and matrices to ensure
a smooth transition from our old systems to the new requirement.
"The ALGED executive feels that the timescale
to implement the changes is both fair and reasonable. We asked
the CC to allow
us to have an input into the changes that would come about as
a result of the inquiry, and we appreciate the fact that they
allowed us to do so. We are certain that this ensured greater
appropriateness to the approach that they have taken, and the
changes that the industry will have to make.”
Rob Shuttleworth,
director general of the LPGA, said: “The
industry welcomed the opportunity to participate in the inquiry
and the LPGA now awaits the order to see what part it can play
in working with the industry to implement the proposed remedies.
"The relationship between tank ownership
and supply of products has been important in ensuring the UK
has one of the safest lpg
industries in the world. The CC has concluded this still represents
the safest way to do business.
"The CC has asked that more information
be made available to consumers and the LPGA is keen to ensure
that information about its members
and their services are readily available to customers and prospective
customers.”
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