Press Release
TOM CLARKE MP SAYSENERGY FIRMS DOMINATION HAS TO END
Crippling energy bills are causing financial chaos to household budgets throughout communities and this has led to growing public concern about the behaviour of domestic energy suppliers.
Mr Tom Clarke MP said: ‘I believe it is time to end the big six energy fix. In recent months energy companies have once again been exposed for overcharging customers and making excessive profits at the expense of ordinary people. This is even more unfair at a time when the incomes of those on lower and middle incomes are being squeezed. Energy is an essential human need – we all require affordable energy to light and heat our homes and to run our businesses – yet for many the stark reality is that energy is increasingly unaffordable.’
Tom Clarke lifted the lid on the profits of Energy Companies when he explained: ‘For the first half of 2011 alone the big six energy companies made almost £10 Billion in profit. At the same time OFGEM revealed in October 2011 that the big six energy companies had increased their profit margins for dual-fuel deals by a staggering 733% (from £15 to £125 per household) with OFGEM conceding that ‘we do not have a fully competitive energy market’.
Mr Clarke outlined in detail the huge increases per household in recent years when he added: ‘The average annual household bill for gas and electric has risen from approximately £500 in 2006, to over £1200 in 2011, and USwitch are predicting that by 2020 this could rise to a massive £3202’.
‘Furthermore, according to a recent Government report it is estimated that last year alone over 4 million people were in fuel poverty, with another 400,000 of households forced into fuel poverty every time there is a 10% price hike’.
Tom Clarke MP argued: ‘I believe now is the time for the Government to respond to the excessive profiteering of the big six energy companies by imposing a similar levy to that imposed on the oil companies. Let’s not forget that windfall taxation was used by the Conservative Government in 1981 to claw back the excessive profits of the High Street Banks, in 1997 by the Labour Government on the privatised utilities and the levy imposed by this Government on the big banks. The Government has also responded to the excessive profits of North Sea oil companies by levying a permanent windfall tax - which has funded a reduction in fuel duty’.
The MP concluded: ‘The way forward is for the Government to launch an independent public inquiry into the big six energy companies so that OFGEM, the Government and most importantly the public know what measures are needed to have a market that serves people before it serves profit. The time has come to end the big six energy fix – and I want the Government to act. Secondly, to prevent the energy companies passing the cost of any levy onto customers and to make energy prices fairer, I want the Government to provide the Regulator with new powers to cap prices, this could be linked to the wholesale price so that energy companies can still make a reasonable profit to guarantee future investment, but eliminate excessive profit at the expense of people and planet’.