News
Energy becomes “political football” again
If the party wins the general election in June they say they will cap prices of the two-thirds of British households who are still on their supplier’s standard credit tariff.
Damian Green confirmed that OFGEM would be allowed to impose a price ceiling for domestic customers who were on standard tariffs. If this comes into place it will save families around £100 year.
Capping utility bills was key in 2015 as one as Ed Milliband’s manifesto policies under which they proposed a 21 month price freeze for these customers, something which the Conservatives dismissed at the time as unworkable.
The energy industry has not reacted positively to the Conservative plans.
Lawrence Slade, the chief executive of the industry body Energy UK, said the move would be “giving up on competition”.
“Intervention on this scale will additionally create huge uncertainty around government intentions, potentially putting at risk the billions in investment and jobs needed to renew our energy system,”
Meanwhile the Iain Conn, Chief Executive of Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, has come out strongly against such a move, pointing out that it would be likely to lead to financial losses for the giant energy supplier.
