Labour

British Gas threatening price hikes while profits soar - Flint

Caroline Flint MP, Labour's Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, commenting on the interim financial report for the first half of 2012 from Centrica, which owns British Gas, showing overall profits are up by 15 per cent, and profits on UK residential customers are up by 23 per cent, compared to same period last year, said:

“People will not understand why just a couple of months ago British Gas was threatening more price hikes this winter, while it has seen profits soar. The public will be getting a raw deal if they are forced to stomach even higher bills and bear the cost for investment in our energy infrastructure, while the big energy companies get away with making more profits and paying out more to their shareholders.

“Hard-pressed families and businesses, already hit by the double dip recession made in Downing Street, need much more transparency on costs, pricing and profits to know whether they're getting a fair deal, but the Government's Energy Bill does nothing to reform the energy market. There is nothing to break the dominance of the energy giants, nothing to simplify tariffs, and nothing to protect vulnerable customers from being ripped off.

“Unless ministers get to grips with spiralling energy bills, people will rightly think that this Government is completely out of touch with families and pensioners struggling to make ends meet.”