Miliband pledges to cut energy bills

Labour leader Ed Miliband has resurrected plans for forced energy tariff cuts, saying the party would act immediately to slash energy bills if it comes to power in the May general election.

The opposition party has already said it would freeze or cap energy prices for 18 months if elected, and in January bought a House of Commons vote on whether to give Ofgem the power to force energy price cuts.

The proposed legislation was voted down by Government but Miliband said today that his party would push the change through if elected, to ensure that bills reflect the heavy falls in oil and gas prices over the past year.

The Labour party press team suggests that a cut of 10 per cent could be made, based on estimates from consumer watchdog Which?.

In a Labour party rally in Birmingham later today Miliband is expected to say: “The cost of energy to the big six firms fell by 20 per cent. Your gas bill fell by between one and five per cent. Your electricity bill probably hasn’t fallen at all. What better evidence do we need of the chronic over-charging, the broken market and the rip offs being faced by millions of families and businesses across Britain?”

The party has upped the ante following its September 2013 pledge to freeze energy prices. At the time, rising energy suppliers costs looked set to result in further price hikes which could deepen Labour’s so-called ‘cost of living crisis’.

But historic losses on the wholesale energy markets and a roll back of Government policy costs have since allowed suppliers to bring in modest price cuts, leading to criticism that the party’s pledges have lost relevance.

Miliband will say today that the party still intends to cap prices over an 18 month period but that an immediate 10 per cent cut needs to be made.

Conservative energy minister Mathew Hancock lodged a fierce attack against the Labour leader following the renewed pledge, lambasting the plans as “chaotic” and “a disaster”.

“This is now the sixth version of a chaotic Labour energy policy that would have put up families’ bills by £100 and could do the same again. Its record at setting prices has been a disaster. And only Ed Miliband could propose giving a new power to a regulator he plans to scrap,” Hancock said.

“This incompetence is exactly why Ed Miliband isn’t up to the job. Hardworking taxpayers would pay the price with higher bills,” he added.
Energy secretary and Liberal-Democrat Ed Davey said in January’s parliamentary debate that forcing bills to closely track wholesale price moves would not work in the interest of the consumer.

“Labour’s proposed regulations, involving wholesale-retail price links, would produce yo-yo pricing and higher pricing, and consumers do not want either,” he said.

Davey added that the government’s measures to ensure easier tariff switching for consumers mean that a political intervention is not needed.