Britons face cold comfort

WITH every passing price rise, Britain’s major energy suppliers increase the hardship and distress among swathes of the public. The official figures which show a rise in fuel poverty are symptomatic of an industry which puts directors and shareholders before customers. The concept of fairness has long been forgotten.

An extra one million households were pushed into fuel poverty in 2009 but, unlike in the high street, Britons cannot simply take their custom elsewhere. The winter of 2009-10 was especially harsh yet, because of the big six suppliers’ near stranglehold on the market, people are forced to economise elsewhere in order to keep their homes warm. This leaves older people in an especially difficult position. They have to cope not just with rising utility bills, but seeing the value of their savings reduced by record low interest rates and the cost of living pushed up by food and fuel price inflation. It is this combination that leaves many pensioners worried, angry and cold.

Gordon Brown, despite a lifetime spent in the study of finance, failed to do very much about this problem when he was either Chancellor or Prime Minister. While his winter fuel allowance no doubt took the pressure off those who were poorest, it was wasted on some prosperous pensioners who neither wanted nor needed a helping hand from the state.

The coalition, in swinging behind the building of more nuclear power stations, has shown it is waking up to the challenge of planning for Britain’s future energy needs. More must be done, however. The warm home discount, announced earlier this year, is a start but it must live up to the grand claims made for it by Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary of protecting the most vulnerable people and making energy companies legally obliged to provide more financial support.

The Government must also act to limit the vast wealth accumulated by energy companies. British Gas, the nation’s largest energy supplier, made operating profits of £595m in 2009, the year to which the Government figures relate and an all-time high. Yet just days ago the supplier announced another price rise, citing increases in the cost of wholesale gas. It is time for the big six to show some restraint – or face the chill wind of legislation.