Ed Davey “Customer must not been seen as cash cows”

Ed Davey MP, Lib Dem Energy Secretary says energy customers are not just ‘cash cows’.

Liberal Democrat minister Ed Davey has compared the UK’s big energy suppliers to greedy bankers and says they face a ‘Fred the shred’ moment as customers getting ever most frustrated and angry at rising prices.

The speech given at the energy industry conference, Energy UK, is available in full here.

Ed Davey said:

Trust between those who supply energy and those who use it is breaking down.

For it is so difficult for people to work out what exactly they are paying for, that they fear the big energy companies are taking them for a ride when bills go up.

Fair or not, they look at the big suppliers and they see a reflection of the greed that consumed the banks.

So this is a ‘fred the shred’ moment for the industry. Ed Davey Lib Dem Energy Minister

The continuing collapse in the energy companies public reputation has been compared to that undergone by the banking and financial industries during the financial crash and the mis-selling of PPI and other products.

Scott Collins, Former General Election candidate for the Liberal Democrats in South Northamptonshire said:

“Its great to see Ed Davey really pushing home the need for the ‘Big Six’ to treat customers better and understand the pressures they are under. I would not restrict the comments to the ‘Big Six’ alone as smaller energy companies can also have a detrimental effect on customer if they increase their charges too.

The vulnerable suffering energy poverty has to be a real concern for us and we need to continue the fight to see changes in the energy market and energy security to ensure we better control our destiny in relation to enrgy production.”

This comes on the day that EDF, the latest of the ‘Big Six’ energy companies, also raised its electricity prices, in what has almost become an annual event heralding the arrival of winter.

EDF raised its prices by 3.9% well below the other 4 of the ‘Big Six’ who all raised there prices by 9-10%.

Ed Davey said that the energy firms are adding ever more pressure to already hard pressed customers with more price rises during a period where wholesale energy prices have risen just a little over 1.7% in comparison over the last year according to Ofgen.

‘Profits cannot come at the expense of the elderly, the vulnerable, and the poorest in our society. Customers are not just cash cows to be squeezed in the pursuit of a higher return for shareholders,’  said Ed Davey.