Thursday 24 March 2011

Would CSR saved the Energy giants Ofgem ruling?

On 21st March 2011 Ofgem announced its conclusion to its investigation of  the big six energy company pricing system. It conclusion were scathing claiming that all the companies were confusing their customers and rising price far quicker than lowering them  with changing wholesale prices. Ofgem has given them eight week to make changes or it will refer them to the competing commission which may lead to more problems for the companies. The question here is if these companies has practices CSR they would they have avoid these forced changes?  
These companies have clearly been behaving in a way that was against the interest of many of the stakeholder, mainly the customers, which has resulted in the regulatory authority intervening. If these companies had engaged in  CSR practices they would have know that what they were doing was not acceptable to their stakeholder or at least foster good relationships that would have protected them from this kind of scrutiny.

Instead they show a opportunity to increase their profit margins and believed that there were untouchable as they provided an essential service. They now have to make costly changes and sell off a share of the supplies to increase competition in the industry to meant the demands of Ofgem. This may cost them a lot more than the short term profit they gain.
This seems to be a warning to companies that may believe they are essential so can behave how they like that regulatory authority will step in and demand changing if they refuse to behave in a fair way. This suggest that companies should not just claim to be engage CSR practices, but start to really adopt the concept into their business practice to avoid costly regulations in the further.
Video Source from the  Press association available from  youtube
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wJUzBSxG1w 
Other sources:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Gas-And-Electricity-Firms-Accused-Of-Failing-Consumers-By-The-Regulator-Ofgem/Article/201103315956854
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12802591

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