Ofgem is pushing for a radical overhaul of the retail energy market, as wholesale costs soar and all our bills look set to rocket!

The move is supported by a wide range of consumer groups including Consumer Focus, Which?, CAB, Age UK and uSwitch as well as independent generators and small energy suppliers.

As wholesale costs increase, with a 30% rise in gas prices over the last year, Ofgem plans to sweep away complex tariffs and to open up the market to more firms, such as new arrival on the scene the Co-op, and thus break the current stranglehold of the Big Six energy companies.

Ofgem’s chief executive Alistair Buchanan said: "Responses to our reforms show that there is increasing consensus across a range of consumer and business groups that in a period of rising energy prices energy suppliers have to transform the way they deal with consumers.

"We are also seeing signs that the penny has dropped with the Big Six and they are ready to take part constructively in the debate."

The downside is that processes like these can take some time. Ofgem plans to publish proposals for consultation by the end of the year and in 2012 it will publish proposals to put the reforms into action.

As prices continue to rise, and complex and confusing tariffs continue to leave customers facing large bills, it’s worth shopping around on comparison sites to find the best dual fuel tariffs available.

And, of course, we can all save money by being as energy saving conscious as we can - we all know the benefits of energy saving light bulbs, but how many of us go around the house switching off all those appliances that are wasting valuable power just by being on standby?

If only there was one device, say a remote control, that could deal with a number of gadgets at once... Oh! like the Ecosavers Standby Starter Kit. Hurray! Energy saving, money saving and convenient too.

[Image: Ted and Jen]