Energy firms in market rigging claims

Energy companies in profiteering (non) shock.

Households may have paid over the odds for their electricity for three years because energy companies bought their power for almost £4bn more than the average market rate, Labour has claimed.

In a new analysis of official figures, the Labour party,  said the big six energy suppliers appear either to be inflating their prices to make extra profits for their own power plants, or striking very expensive deals to the detriment of consumers.

Caroline Flint, the shadow energy secretary, said she could demonstrate that the energy giants – which supply 98% of households in Britain – have been buying electricity at a much higher price than they could get on the open market.

This amounts to about £50 a year for the last three years for which data is available, she said.

“These figures reveal the full extent of the way consumers have been overcharged for their electricity,” Flint said. “Energy companies always blame wholesale costs when they put up bills, but it now looks like they could have deliberately inflated prices to boost profits from their power stations.”The time has come for a complete overhaul of our energy market. Labour will break up the big energy companies, put an end to the secret deals and force them to do all of their trading on the open market.”

Quelle surprise aye readers? A vital national utility has been sold to profiteers who rather unsurprisingly use their insider positions to fleece the public in any way they can.

Of course being a neoliberal party these days Labour couldn’t possibly say what the vast majority of the country thinks, namely that we should RE-NATIONALISE the energy firms asap.

No, all Labour can do is chunter on about ‘a broken market’ and try to gain an electoral advantage over the other neoliberal parties.

some text via Energy firms paid £4bn more for power than market rate, claims Labour | Business | The Guardian.