MP, Labour’s Shadow
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy, responding to news that senior
Conservatives are urging a u-turn on their energy price cap
manifesto promise, said:
“If correct, this is potentially another stunning U-turn from a
weak and wobbly Prime Minister.
“One in ten households are living in fuel poverty and customers
are being overcharged a whopping £2 billion every year. unequivocally guaranteed a
price cap before the general election but now it appears she is
preparing to row back on that promise. It now looks like this
price cap was simply an election gimmick and that the
Conservatives were never serious about taking action to keep
energy bills down.”
“Britain needs a serious and long term approach in order to bring
energy costs down, not cheap gimmicks that may simply be thrown
into the bin just a week after the General Election.”
Ends
Notes to editors
Labour understands that people just want reliable and affordable
energy which is why in our manifesto we announced a temporary
price cap to help struggling households immediately, but we also
presented a plan to reform and inject fairness into the energy
market which included amongst other things:
- Regaining control of energy supply networks through the
alteration of the National and Regional Network Operator license
conditions.
- Supporting the creation of publicly owned, locally
accountable energy companies and co-operatives to rival existing
private energy suppliers, with at least one in every region.
- Legislating to permit publicly owned local companies to
purchase the regional grid infrastructure, and to ensure that
national and regional grid infrastructure is brought into public
ownership over time.
- To insulate four million homes as an infrastructure priority
to help those who suffer in cold homes each winter. This will cut
emissions, improve health, save on bills, and reduce fuel poverty
and winter deaths.
- To offer homeowners interest free loans to improve the energy
efficiency of their property.
- To improve on existing Landlord Energy Efficiency regulations
and re-establish the Landlord Energy Saving Allowance to
encourage the uptake of efficiency measures.
- To support and encourage investment in existing and new
renewable and nuclear energy generation and infrastructure.
