Big Six To Be Forced To Make Switching Easier The 'big six' energy companies will be forced to be more transparent about their profits and make it simpler for customers to switch providers, under plans for an annual competition check on the industry. Energy Secretary Ed Davey will unveil plans for the yearly review on Thursday in the House of Commons. He is expected to say the companies will be subject to rigorous checks in three key areas - competition, profit and customer engagement. It follows a storm of controversy around energy prices after four of the big six companies raised prices by an average of 9.1%, causing customer bills to exceed £1,400 a year and leading to allegations of cartel behaviour. The annual check is designed to drive up competition in the market, which is still heavily dominated by the big six. Despite a number of new entrants to the market, British Gas, SSE, Powergen, EDF, E.ON and Scottish Power still provide gas and electricity to 99% of British homes. The annual review will aim to crack down on practices seen as preventing new firms from entering the market. Ed Davey will announce the move in his annual statement One supposed method revealed earlier this week involved British Gas. The energy giant was said to have a dedicated team that contacted customers who had switched away and offered them lower rates to go back. Stephen Fitzpatrick, managing director of Ovo Energy, made the claims at a select committee hearing in which companies faced MPs. Sources told Sky News the review would also look at how to force companies to offer clearer information to customers who want to switch and to reduce the time it takes to change companies. There are already plans to reduce the number of tariffs on offer so that customers can easily compare them. And the review will be expected to push companies to be more transparent about their profits. While companies say they only make margins of around 5% on their retail products, they enjoy much bigger percentages in power generation - and the profits made through trading are not disclosed. The review will be carried out by three regulators - Ofgem, the Office of Fair Trading and the Capital Markets Authority. A source said the plans were "very much about transparency and asking the (big six) to open their books." Jonathan Reynolds, a shadow energy minister for Labour, said the problem was that the regulators ought to be doing that work anyway. He argued that we know what the problem is - we just need to fix it. "Hard-pressed energy customers struggling with the cost of living need action now, not the promise of another review in future by the same regulator that has let the energy companies get away with ripping people off," he said. Nothing less than a price freeze will do, because this is the only way we can deal with the energy companies overcharging.