Apparently it has been a year since I last changed power/gas companies, so I have just been through the whole energy compare thing again. It is annoying how much of our lives we have to waste on this stuff, and it sucks that we effectively penalise people who can’t do this. People like to call it a “lazy tax” to put the moral responsibility on individuals, but in reality it is primarily a penalty on people who struggle because of literacy issues, disability, age etc. A civilised society should be able to manage a fair distribution of essential services, instead we have created a system designed to take more from the most vulnerable people.