Call for urgent action on fuel hike

Jun 20 2008 by Paul Loraine, The Journal

THE government must move quickly to protect the country’s most vulnerable people with potentially crippling rises in gas and electricity prices looming, North MPs said yesterday.

Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks admitted he was worried about the scale of possible rises after industry sources were reported as saying that household energy bills could increase by as much as 40% this winter.

Mr Wicks said significant rises are “very, very likely” in the coming period and laid the blame for domestic energy price hikes on massive increases in the cost of oil, gas and coal on global markets.

When asked yesterday how they were going to be tackling the issue, a statement from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said: “Individual pricing decisions are very much a matter for each of the energy companies. The Government should not intervene in what is a competitive and free market.

“Britain’s gas and electricity industries are regulated by Ofgem, an independent body overseen by the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons. The Government cannot direct Ofgem as to its approach on prices. However, rising global energy prices impact upon fuel poverty, and addressing this is a priority for the Government.

“The Government has a commitment from the big six energy suppliers to provide an extra £225m in social assistance over the next three years and is working on ways to share information with them so that money can get to those who need it the most.”

Dave Anderson, Labour MP for Blaydon, said the Government may need to reconsider how much financial help they are giving the country’s most vulnerable.

“As well as the issue of how much is given out in the allowance there is the question of whether we are covering sufficient people with it,” he said.

“The problem that we have got is that we are at the whim of the market, so there is not a lot we can do.”

National Energy Action (NEA) said it feared a quarter of UK households could fall into fuel poverty if domestic energy prices increased by 40%.

Sir Alan Beith, Liberal Democrat MP for Berwick, urged the Government to act promptly.

“This Government needs to do more than just talk about energy efficiency measures, and instead compel our energy companies to offer their lowest prices to poorest customers, as the Liberal Democrats have been saying for a long time now,” he said.

Ronnie Campbell, Labour MP for Blyth Valley, said: “It’s going to hit the poor very hard and the cartels are not worried about the old people – they are worried about a bigger profit.

“We should have been thinking about this a long time ago and we’ve missed the boat on a long-term solution.

“We haven’t got the storage space, we haven’t got our own gas – we’re completely dependant on outside energy and the companies have got us cornered.”

Minister defends poverty action

PENSIONERS in the region have been told they are no more likely to be poor than anyone else, as the Government continues to push its poverty reduction targets.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions James Purnell said yesterday that although there is more to do to help low-income families, he believes the Government’s targets have seen real changes to many households.

The minister was in the region to see the work being done to help the long-term unemployed back into work.His visit comes a week after Government figures revealed the number of elderly people in the region struggling to pay bills and afford food has gone up over the two years to 2007, from 11% to 12%. The statistics also showed that children in the North East are the most likely in the UK to live in poverty.

In an interview with The Journal, Mr Purnell said he knew there was a long way to go before meeting targets of ending child poverty by 2020, but the last three budgets had improved the lives of many.

He said: "Pensioners are now no more likely to be poor than other people in society, which given that they are not actually in work is extraordinary."

North East Pensioners’ Association secretary John Berry said the Government risked alienating the elderly with its insistence that living standards are bearable. He said: "Mr Purnell is speaking rubbish. I know of pensioners who are worried sick about how they will be able to get through this week, and even more worried about the next."