John Baron MP urges Government to resist energy company opposition to energy bill reform

MP questions Minister in House of Commons

Today in the House of Commons, during Energy Questions, John Baron MP urged the Government to resist any attempts by energy companies to resist the recommendation of the Billing Stakeholder Group. This recommendation was adopted by Ofgem in its consultation. The recommendation called for energy companies to place on the face of quarterly energy bills information tailored to each customer’s individual usage as to how much the customer could save were they to switch to their supplier’s cheapest standard direct debit tariff.

In the House of Commons, John said,

“The Billing Stakeholder Group made a key recommendation to increase competition by obliging energy companies to put tailored information on the face of quarterly bills. This was picked up by Ofgem, and it chimes with the Prime Minister’s initiative. But the energy companies opposed the recommendation at the time. Will the Minister ensure that the suppliers are not allowed to row back on this recommendation?”

The Minister in response congratulated John for his work with the Billing Stakeholder Group, agreed that we should hold energy companies to account, and that the recommendation should not be watered down.

John said afterwards,

“Too many people are overpaying for their energy. The situation is not helped by overcomplicated tariffs. Forcing energy companies to tell their customers whether they are on their cheapest tariff, and how much could be saved by switching if not, will go a long way to help consumers make informed choices.”

Notes to Editors:

• The Billing Stakeholder Group was chaired by John at the Government’s request, and was given the task of coming up with recommendations to benefit energy customers. Members of the Group included Ofgem, representatives from consumer groups and energy suppliers, and officials from the Department of energy and Climate Change.