Last year, utilities were made political whipping boys, so will the next few weeks be any kinder as the final party conference season before next year’s general election kicks off? By Mathew Beech.

Brighton: 25 September 2013. This date and location looms large in the world of utilities, because it is when Ed Miliband single-handedly moved the goalposts for the energy sector.

It was on that day last year that the Labour leader unveiled his grand plan for a 20-month price freeze for all domestic and business customers should his party win the 2015 general election. It has since formed a central pillar of the “cost of living crisis” narrative that Labour has been promoting ever since, and will continue to do at least until May next year when, the party hopes, it will help propel Miliband and his team into Downing Street.

Miliband had cast the dice and hit the poll ratings jackpot. He had also sparked the energy debate into life. We saw more of the same this year as Labour pushed its affordability agenda. Energy forms a central part of the attack.

Miliband, decried as “Red Ed” by some commentators in the tabloid press, hopes to be embraced by the electorate as the people’s champion – and rewarded with a rebound in the polls.

The Conservatives had a shaky 2013 conference, largely because of the exploits of the leader of the opposition the week before. Energy chat was light on the ground as the Tories scrambled for a response behind the scenes, while trying to appear calm on the surface. In the end they sidestepped the issue and settled for denouncing Miliband as a 1970s-style socialist.

Prime minister David Cameron needs a strong party conference, with a clear, attractive message for voters. Utility Week polled readers, and according to that admittedly unrepresentative sample, the Tories have much better approval ratings than Labour in the utilities sector. All Cameron has to do now is to convince the “hard-working people” of Britain.

How they are going to get around the promise of frozen energy bills remains to be seen, and there will be many out there keen to remind Cameron of last year’s husky-­hugging antics and his election pledge to be “the greenest government ever”.

The allure of shale gas, coupled with a general detestation of onshore windfarms among his back bench (and even some of his ministerial and cabinet colleagues) has led many Tory critics to say they have failed to meet, or even lied about, their environmental credentials.

As for the junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats had a quiet conference in Glasgow last year. A general air of dissatisfaction with Nick Clegg for partnering with the Tories permeated the event.

The conference did, however, drop the Lib Dems’ historical blanket opposition to new nuclear power in a vote that went energy secretary Ed Davey’s way by 230 votes to 183.

It was significant because it meant all three main parties supported new nuclear for the first time, and the deal for the Hinkley Point C strike price was announced the following month.

But the Lib Dems have, for many, been tainted by association with the Tories, so expect Clegg, Davey, and the other big hitters to shout about what the Lib Dems have achieved in government to curb Conservative excess. Expect a “fairer society” to be on the agenda, including fair energy bills. The Lib Dems have condemned Miliband’s price freeze “con”, but will the prospect of a Lib-Lab coalition moderate that judgement?

And then, for all of the big three, there is the small matter of the fallout from the Scottish No vote and that pledge to devolve more powers away from Westminster. What does that really mean? And will utilities be affected by the constitutional tinkering?

After last week’s historic events, it will be harder for the 2014 party conferences to grab the headlines, but that won’t stop them trying.

The Miliband moment

“The next Labour government will freeze gas and electricity prices until the start of 2017… that’s what I mean by a government that fights for you.”

– Ed Miliband, 2013

Where were you?

“I was dashing for a train at ­Paddington after a long Ofgem meeting when I saw the headline in The Evening Standard. I missed my train.”

Chris Welby, policy and regulatory affairs officer, Good Energy

“I think panic was the overwhelming feeling.”

Mat Hope, writer, @Carbonbrief

“Our gut reaction to the freeze was negative. Government intervention in energy prices does not promote the competition, transparency and accountability that we advocate.”

Charlie Lass, co-founder, Open Energy Market

“When the pledge flashed up it seemed odd to me. Firstly because it guarantees higher prices now (risk premium and all that) and secondly because he was energy secretary for two years when retail prices went through the roof…”

Andrew Hallet, Citizens Advice Bureau