ENERGY REGULATION

That this House is disappointed that the Government has not introduced a Winter Warming Bill; notes that the six largest energy companies have made billions of pounds of profit from energy price rises in recent years and are currently charging domestic customers up to twice as much as the current price on the wholesale energy market; calls for an end to light touch regulation of this market and for the energy regulator, Ofgem, to have a stronger role in controlling these companies, for a reintroduction of the price controls that were abolished in 2002 to ensure a fair market for consumers, for the abolition of VAT on electricity and gas to cut costs for normal hard-working families, for the introduction of mandatory social tariffs that would take the vulnerable poor out of the market economy, and for the end of the scandal of pre-payment meter users being over-charged for their services than other customers.