Thank the Tories for Rising Energy Bills: They Privatised the Utilities
As Britons struggle under ever increasing gas, electricity and utility bills, it is worthwhile remembering that it was the Tories who were responsible for privatising these institutions.
They were built with taxpayers' money, should have been run on a non-profit basis for the good of the nation. It was the Tories who sold off these utilities to their fat-cat pals, who in turn have sold many on to foreign entities.
French-owned EDF, for example, has announced a 22 per cent rise in gas bills and 17 per cent on electricity for its 5.5million UK users.
At the same time, it has secretly raised gas prices for some of its most vulnerable customers by as much as 75 per cent.
The increases are in stark contrast to the situation in France. EDF has been told by the government there to cap its increases on electricity to just 2 per cent and gas to 5 per cent.
The company - which, ironically, is part-owned by the French government, is looking to protect its profits by imposing punishing increases on UK families.
The price cap in France will not stop EDF imposing big rises in the cost of electricity it sells to Britain via a cable under the Channel.
The increases have been strongly criticised by Ed Mayo, chief of the National Consumer Council.
‘Closed and protectionist European energy markets end up picking the pockets of consumers in this country,' he said.
‘My concerns are for people on fixed income, such as pensioners, who will be switching off their electricity and heating this winter. That will lead to more illness and disease.'
‘My concerns are for people on fixed income, such as pensioners, who will be switching off their electricity and heating this winter. That will lead to more illness and disease.'
Mayo said foreign owned power companies - such as EDF, RWE Npower and E.on of Germany, and Iberdrola of Spain, which owns Scottish Power - must show they are not raising prices in the UK to subsidise customers in other countries.
Criticism has also been levelled at the German government for failing to open its energy market to competition.
He suggested Britain should consider introducing French-style price caps. ‘If the French are capping prices, that is something we should be looking at. We should learn from the French,' he said.
EDF, like the other ‘big six' power suppliers, has a series of tariffs linked to the amount of gas that customers use. It has increased the charge for 132,000 low users by up to 75 per cent - taking the charges up from 3.984p per kilowatt hour to 7p. A low-user customer who perhaps only has gas for a cooker will see the annual bill rise from £106.77 a year to £187.60.
EDF customer Philip Williams, 69, who lives alone in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, said: ‘I couldn't believe it when I got the bill and found the price had gone up by 75 per cent, not 22 per cent as we were told. I've had no notice that it would go up this much. During the winter months my bills will go through the roof.'
Consumer group Energywatch said: ‘The message this sends out is that people who try to be careful and cut down on their use of gas end up getting penalised with bigger increases in bills than everyone else.
‘All the evidence is that energy companies are disregarding the needs of their most vulnerable customers.'
Thank you, Tories. We have not forgotten this blessing you bestowed upon us.