High Energy Bills

Energy bills are a worry for many people now.

Oil and gas prices have fallen, but the cost of heating homes this winter remains at old higher tariffs. The average family’s energy bill is over £300 more this year.

Worse still, energy companies have various tactics to fleece you – mostly targeted on the poor.

First, they charge customers the most expensive prices for the first units of electricity or gas used – yet lower prices the more you consume. This is unfair as it penalises people who use less energy – and it’s damaging the environment, as it rewards people who waste energy. Government should change the rules for billing gas and electricity.

Second, they charge the highest prices to people using pre-pay meters, who are mostly on low incomes: once again, the poor paying higher prices. Unacceptable, and regulations should stop this.

Third, these firms now abuse people who pay by direct debit – demanding ever higher amounts in advance, even when people are already in credit.

With higher energy prices, and such appalling practices, it’s not surprising that new figures uncovered by my Liberal Democrat colleague, Professor Steve Webb MP, show 80% of single pensioners will be living in fuel poverty this winter.

Many of these same firms are reporting massive profits, and a new Government scheme has given these companies a massive £9 billion windfall.

In the Queen’s Speech, the Government did nothing about this. They must force energy firms to use that windfall to compensate pensioners and those on low incomes, with lower bills and help to insulate their homes and use energy efficiency technology.