A ‘social tariff’may help 4m
ENERGY regulators should do more to protect vulnerable customers, campaigners say.
They want Ofgem to back a new “social tariff” which would slash the energy costs of more than four million low income households.
The call comes ahead of a parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday, when MPS will grill Ofgem, suppliers and consumer groups about the energy crisis.
Ofgem has announced a record 54% hike in its price cap for 22 million households from April.
It means bills will soar by an average of £693 a year to £1,971 for customers on standard tariffs.
Bills for 4.5 million households on pre-payment meters will leap by £708 to £2,017.
Cheap
National Energy Action, which is due to give evidence to the Commons business, enterprise and industrial strategy committee as part of an inquiry into energy pricing, says hard-up families will still be more than £500 worse off despite Government measures to ease financial hardship.
NEA policy director Peter Smith is calling for a new cheap rate tariff as part of a series of measures to protect households including pensioners and prepayment meter customers.
He said: “Essentially we want to protect those people living on the lowest incomes. It would be the cheapest tariff in the energy market, considerably less than the standard tariff.”
Other proposals include the automatic enrolling of vulnerable customers onto a priority services register shared by suppliers.
Mr Smith added: “Ofgem have to set out a clear work programme about how they are going to directly support vulnerable customers through the energy crisis.”
Experts have warned that warned up to 6.5 million households could be forced into fuel poverty – where they spend more than a tenth of their income on energy.