The Express reports:
Mark Todd, founder of energyhelpline, said: “Ofgem has long been seen as ineffective.
“It is seen as a bit of a lap dog when it comes to vigorously defending customers against the energy firms. It has long been considered a paper tiger.”
He said energy bills had more than doubled over the past seven years with many households now struggling to pay…
Last night Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said: “We are doing all we can to help consumers keep their energy bills down and reduce the number of people in fuel poverty. Policies to support renewable energy and reduce energy waste are insulating consumers from the rising cost of fossil fuels.
“Our analysis shows that by 2020 bills will be on average £166 lower than if we did nothing.”
“…Policies to support renewable energy and reduce energy waste are insulating consumers from the rising cost of fossil fuels…” as per the norm, Mr Davey is either ill informed, or is deliberately being misleading and/or being unecconomic with the truth.
Fossil fuel prices are not increasing, and gas prices in the States have been dropping since the shale gas revolution. OPEC are unable to put up prices because the US is about to become the biggest energy supplier. The UK could join the shale gas party and reap the benefits of cheap fossil fuel energy if only this government had a sensible energy policy.
Coal is also at a low price given the economic slow down in China.
The only reason why there is some increase in the price of energy from fossil fuels is because the government has slapped a carbon tax on them. This is forcing up electricity prices.
The government has totally distorted the market with all the subsidies given to renewables so that no one will now build any energy/power station without also wanting some form of subsidy.
In order to balance the grid, we even have a system whereby standby diesel generators are guaranteed a minimum price just to be ready and available, and when required they are paid upto 300% more than the cost of energy produced by coal or gas. Windfarms are paid not to produce energy, and back up gas generators are paid not to produce energy.
Even a lunatic could not design a more crazy energy policy if they tried.
Or willfull blindness and that’s where my money is.
And yet they claim it is the renewable that are keeping a check on the prices. Otherwise they would be 166 pounds more. Total denial.
MPs baffled? Not engineers or real economists.