Labour vows to cut energy bills with industry changes

LABOUR will vow to ease the misery of soaring energy bills today, warning that recent rises have cost households in the North-East £173m.

The party will pledge a shake-up of the energy market to end the dominance of the six big gas and electricity companies blamed for increasing prices while making huge profits.

Under the plans, EDF, British Gas, E.On, Scottish and Southern, Npower and Scottish Power would no longer be allowed to produce gas and electricity and then sell it to themselves.
Instead, the energy would go into a central pool and be sold at only a slightly higher price, cutting bills for four out of five families.

The policy shift comes after recent rises to gas and electricity bills that have left the average household £156 a year worse off.

Labour said those increases had added £173m on North-East energy bills – part of a £448m rise in costs across the region in only four years.

Speaking to The Northern Echo ahead of her conference speech today, Meg Hillier, Labour’s energy spokeswoman, said it was time to rein in the “big six”, which supply 99 per cent of households.
She said: “Even if people shop around, as the Government wants them to, they will still end up with a supplier that is putting up prices.

“We need to go back to a Seventies model, where all the power generators contribute to a single pool and then sell on power at a slightly higher price.

“We believe this will make a real difference, leading to cheaper energy prices and household bills and also open up the market to new suppliers such as the Co-operative Group, or even Tesco or Sainsbury’s.”

Ms Hillier said Labour would also force energy suppliers to offer a single tariff, with a single price for gas and electricity and an hourly rate.

Gas and electricity bills have risen by 45 per cent since 2007 to an average of £1,280 a year.
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has urged families to avoid price rises by shopping around between suppliers.

In his speech today, Labour leader Ed Miliband is expected to point to energy bills as part of a “quiet crisis going on behind front doors across the country”.

Are you looking to switch energy supplier? Check out the Reduce Comparison Gas & Electricity Comparison Service now!