Are energy giants playing fair with us?

I READ with interest (Mail) that British Gas made £750 million profit last year because Ofgem let them raise prices to cover losses arising from the Ukraine War and the collapse of other suppliers. Do I expect the standing charge on my electricity bill to fall to pre-war levels? Of course not. Ofgem is as much working for the consumer as Putin is in line for the Nobel Peace Prize. Incidentally, if the CEO of Centrica (which owns British Gas), Chris O’Shea, feels he cannot justify last year’s £8.2 million salary, maybe he could donate a bit to charity.

V. DAWSON, hollywood, Worcs.

AFTER decades of being told to switch off all electrical appliances before we go to bed, to avoid fires, we are now led to believe that Ofgem is recommending a new price cap which would encourage us to use appliances and do laundry at night, so we can be ‘rewarded’ with lower electricity bills.

PAUL MacKintosh, Darlington, co Durham. AS PREDICTED, we will be charged more for electricity and gas at peak times. It was always the intention that smart meters, advertised as saving us money, would in fact be used to charge us more at times when most people are cooking their main meal, or the weather is cold and the heating is on.

DAVID BECK, Waterlooville, hants. WASH your clothes at night, cook dinner at 3am, don’t even think of using an electric lawnmower by day.

P. MENZIES, hornchurch, essex.

WHAT a surprise, smart meters were never to save us money but to monitor and control our lives.

BRIAN Best, high Wycombe, Bucks. THE regulator reduced the energy price cap, so did British Gas reduce my direct debit? no, they want to increase it. They reduced the unit price of gas by 1p and of electricity by 4p; but raised the standing charges by 3p and 18p respectively.

PETER BROWN, swanley, Kent.