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Highlights
- According to a price comparison survey by Uswitch, many energy companies have been accused of hoarding their customers.
- The survey revealed that the energy providers are sitting on more than £400 credit per household.
The energy crisis has been plaguing Britain for quite some time. After the energy prices rocketed last September amidst the Russia-Ukraine crisis, many energy providers raised the price cap. In fact, in September last year, the electricity market price crossed the mark of £100 a megawatt-hour, making it the highest rise since 1990.
Due to this, even energy regulator Ofgem was forced to raise the energy cap by over 12% due to a spike in electricity and gas market prices, adding stress to the unaffordable UK households. The government did handhold the households with the energy price cap scheme, which limits the amount that energy companies can charge from the consumers.
While the initial price cap came into effect in October, limiting the average bills to about £2,500 per year. The actual bill may be higher or lower depending on the usage, the number of family members, and several other factors
But now, according to a price comparison survey by Uswitch, many energy companies have been accused of hoarding their customers. The survey revealed that the energy providers are sitting on more than £400 credit per household. Many believed that the energy suppliers had raised their direct debits, which resulted in the credit balance soaring by £5.3 billion.
Uswitch concluded that average houses in Plymouth owed £603 among UK cities. Brighton closely followed in terms of energy credit among UK cities with £464, followed by Sheffield with an average credit of £441. Amid this, let's deep dive into three energy stocks and see how they are faring.
Centrica Plc (LON: CNA)
The Windsor-based Centrica Plc is an energy services and solutions company operating in the UK. The CNA stock has offered its investors positive returns of 39.48% and 15.26% on a one-year and a YTD basis.
The Centrica stock on 26 April was seen trading at GBX 111.25 and was up by 0.41% at the time of market opening. The CNA stock enjoyed a market cap of £6,286.49 with an EPS of 0.21.
National Grid Plc (LON: NG.)
Another leading energy utility provider, National Grid, is primarily an FTSE 100 constituent. Boasting a market cap of £ 42,418.58 million as of 26 April 2023 was down by -0.26% and trading at GBX 1150.50.
The energy provider hasn't had the best of luck over the past year, as it was down by -2.60%. It, however, gave good returns on a YTD basis, as it was up by 15.33% on Wednesday.
Drax Group Plc (LON:DRX)
The FTSE-250 constituent, the Drax Group, is a firm in the business of generating and selling renewable electricity. DRX, on 26 April 2023, held a market cap of £ 2,485.67 million and was trading at GBX 641 and was up by 3.52%. The Drax Group Plc has given its investors negative returns of -18.50% and -8.99% on a one-year and YTD basis at the time of writing.
