Agenda item

That this Council:-

(a)       believes Britain’s energy market isn’t working for ordinary families and businesses and the cost of electricity and gas is crippling their family finances;

(b)       regrets that energy bills have risen by almost £300 for families since 2010 and businesses say it’s the second biggest cost they face and is concerned that when the price of energy increases energy companies pass this on, but when it drops consumers don’t see their bills fall;

(c)        notes recent research by Which? estimating that flaws in the market have left consumers paying £3.9bn a year over the odds since 2010;

(d)       fully opposes the unfair price rises recently announced by the big energy companies including a 10.4% increase in Npower’s dual-fuel bills from December, SSE increasing prices by 8.2% from 15th November, British Gas increasing their prices by 9.2% on 23rd November and Scottish Power raising prices by 8.6% from 6th December;

(e)       notes comments from the Chief Executive of Citizens Advice speaking about the SSE increase “The price rise will be a blow for stretched budgets … Many households are facing a daily battle to try to make their frozen incomes cover mounting energy, food and travel costs. Further increases will push people into poverty.”;

(f)        believes that the increases represent a rip-off and believes that the present Government have chosen to defend the big energy companies and have failed to stand up for the consumer;

(g)       regrets that the Council’s main opposition group’s spokesperson for energy has followed the line of the Conservative Party in defending the energy companies rather than Sheffield families and is extremely concerned by the following comments he made in “Lib Dem Voice” on 30^th September, 2013 “No energy company has a duty to invest in anything” and “To say that energy prices are the fault of the energy companies is obviously on one level correct, but seems to imply that they have a duty to us rather than their shareholders when they set their prices. They have a legal duty not to operate a cartel, but beyond this they pitch their prices to maximise profits.”

(h)       believes that this demonstrates that the main opposition group is only concerned with defending the excessive profits of the big energy companies and has no concern for Sheffield’s hard pressed families who are faced with extortionate increases in their energy bills;

(i)         welcomes the commitment by The Rt. Hon. Ed Miliband MP to freeze energy bills until 2017 upon the election of a Labour Government; and

(j)         further welcomes the commitment that the next Labour Government will reset our energy market so it works for Britain’s families and businesses, with a new tough regulator to stop overcharging.