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The big six energy suppliers should cut their customers' energy bills by 5 per cent this winter, according to Energyhelpline.com.
The price comparison website says that given falling wholesale prices, the suppliers could afford to cut bills by £63 per year for customers on standard tariffs.
Research from the company said that as much as £800 million could be cut from consumer energy bills over the next year.
“Wholesale prices are continuing to drop. We encourage one of the big companies to do the right thing and have the guts to give customers a five per cent price cut this winter,” said the website’s marketing director Mark Todd.
Utility Week reported in May that the price of natural gas on the UK’s NBP wholesale market was at three year lows due to healthy storage levels after an unusually mild winter last year.
Amber Rudd said last week that suppliers were delaying retail price cuts because of the Labour party’s threat to impose a price freeze if they came to power next spring.
Citi Research said in a statement that if the big six were to raise tariffs post a possible Labour win, it would probably be taken by the government as “evidence of profiteering” and by the CMA as “evidence of collusion”.
“The big six tend to hedge forward their wholesale costs and as such probably do not have much room yet for further reductions yet, particularly after what has been a much milder than anticipated weather all year, suppressing consumption. Were wholesale prices to stay low post the elections and no tariff freeze to be imposed, we would then see scope for the first tariff cuts to start taking place,” it said.
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