Richard Baum

Nothing beats coming home from a freezing leafleting session to a nice warm house. Unfortunately for me and everyone else (even those sensible enough not to deliver leaflets on weekends!) the cost of keeping houses warm has more or less doubled in recent years. Despite the cost of wholesale gas fluctuating wildly, bills seem to only ever go up. However, those good people at Scottish and Southern Energy have cut their bills!! Sadly it’s only by 4%, which is nowhere near the commensurate fall in wholesale prices, and of course comes right at the end of winter when demand is about to plummet.

Commenting on the cut, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Simon Hughes said:“Token price cuts in March won’t fool customers already hit by bumper bills.Wholesale prices have plummeted but customers have hardly seen any benefit. 

“The Liberal Democrats will change the rules so that fuel bills reflect fuel costs and consumers are not ripped off again and again.” 

Let’s be fair - any reduction is better than no reduction. But it’s time the energy companies were held to account. For too long they have been profiteering on the wild fluctuations in wholesale energy markets. Meanwhile people are struggling to stay warm and live in fear of the bill. I now pay well over £1,000 per year for domestic heating, and I know lots of other people are in the same boat.

Energy bills need to be tied closer to the real costs to the companies, when prices go down it should trigger immediate reductions to domestic energy tariffs. And with regard to tariffs people need greater support and advice to ensure they are on the best tariff deals with greater incentive for green energy. 

There are too many tariffs and special offers. We need streamlining across the industry with the emphasis on the best deal for the consumer not the shareholders. After all, there’s no real choice other than to keep warm.

Rick