General Election 2015: Ed Miliband promises to cut energy prices before winter returns
Labour will give Ofgem the power to enforce energy price reductions if it wins the general election.
Ed Milliband will promise today that his party will cut energy bills by up to 10 per cent by the end of the year, and will empower Ofgem, the energy sector regulator, to review prices by the end of the year.
Ofgem will have a new legal duty to ensure that energy prices are “fair”, plus the remit to reduce prices before next winter, if it can be shown companies are not passing on the lower costs of energy to consumers.
The new powers do not mean Labour is abandoning its stated aim of disbanding Ofgem in the long term, Miliband will say.
Miliband has become the energy price crusader after promising in 2013 to freeze energy prices if he came to power. This latest signal of intent shows Labour is pursuing its agenda of so-called “responsible capitalism”.
The promise to freeze bills was arguably Miliband’s most popular pledge to date, and he will be hoping it has a similarly galvanising effect this close to the election.