EDF chief blames green policy costs for driving up energy bills
THE BOSS of EDF yesterday blamed government policies for raising gas and electricity bills, rather than energy companies reaping increasingly large profits.
Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of the big six energy supplier, told a conference in London that around half of the increase in bills is due to higher wholesale costs, a quarter is due to investment in networks and almost another quarter is because of the low-carbon and energy efficiency policies and taxation. “The increases have not, I repeat not, been driven by higher margins,” he said.
De Rivaz called for certain policies to be reviewed, which he said may be driving up costs for consumers, such as the smart meter roll-out programme and the Energy Companies Obligation, an energy efficiency scheme.
De Rivaz reiterated his request for the newly-formed Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to launch an independent inquiry into the energy industry, to show that it is operating fairly.
The comments follow Labour leader Ed Miliband’s recent pledge to freeze energy prices if elected and radically reform the market.
A CMA spokesperson told City A.M. that no inquiry into the energy industry was in the pipeline.