Tuesday 21 September 2010

Huhne says he’ll get tough on suppliers

Chris Huhne has said he'll get tough on all the major energy suppliers if they continue to withhold price rise information from customers. At present, the energy companies can wait up to 65 working days before they have to tell their customers that bills have gone up which means consumers are often left facing far higher bills than predicted.

OFGEM is due to meet with the suppliers next month to talk about changing the practice but if 20% of the group object to the ruling it can be ignored. Mr Huhne, who is today making a speech at the Lib Dem party conference in Liverpool, said: "It's outrageous that energy companies have been able to hike up prices without even bothering to tell their customers. The best result for consumers will be if energy companies don't block the changes that OFGEM will propose. But if they do I won't hesitate to use my powers to end the practice of energy bill hikes".

Last year huge profits were recorded by most of the major energy suppliers despite continued price rises for consumers.

ELN will be reporting from Chris Huhne's energy debate at the party conference