Energy companies and their regulation are a joke. We had a gas bill today of c. £80 today of which just £18 was gas. The standing charge was £60!

For how long?

As the standing charge is obviously an annual charge, I don't get the point of your complaint, which implies you got charged that per month, when obvioulsy hat's not true

None of this is a new revelation is it ? Which begs the question of why Miliband didn't address it when he was Energy Minister in the previous government.......

Centrica have been doing a good amount of foot stomping and Violet-Elizabeth Bott "Thqueeming" these past few days starting with the threat of ruination for themselves if Labour's electioneering threat of a 20 month price freeze is ever introduced (lets not forget they have no power to do so at the moment) and in the media they have plenty of media reporters and proprietors willing to print ...

rlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24232292rl
So clearly the threat there is that the 3.6% increase in profits in the domestic market that Centrica made last year simply by playing the energy purchase market would not be able to continue if their retail prices were capped for a period of 1 year and 8 months, I can't quite see that argument myself and I am no expert in the energy market but I have run a business and I have dealt with suppliers and end users and I know that the two things are very different, in a normal business, like one that is not essential to life, the end user controls your retail price by how much they are willing to pay, but its you who controls your supplier prices by simply not purchasing their stuff if they get too greedy - simplified its true but Centrica seem to be saying that they won't be able to do that any longer if Labours plans ever come to fruition, almost as if they will lose the ability to run a business.

They are also suggesting that they won't be able to continue with a planned £110billion investment in power stations but having read what Milliband said its fairly apparent that he is talking about a freeze in subsidies and not a stop to all subsidies, so the investment will continue albeit at the same rate for 20 months, surely ?

rlhttp://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/431675/Centrica-bins-gas-store-planrl
And then, coincidentally, they throw a massive foot stomp by pulling out of two huge gas storage projects right now rather than waiting for the words "Ed Milliband PM" to be uttered with the argument that the government subsidy in the projects is not enough, the taxpayer will not pay enough for Centrica to use their own facilities (basically two big holes in the ground) to store gas.

Seems like their business is struggling along at the moment, could be a good time for Centrica to just hand British Gas back to the taxpayer and we'll get the job done without them and their threatening ways.

It begs no such question but given Angela Knight is now speaking on their behalf, it's no wonder the energy companies are trotting out that soundbite

So you don't think that the Energy Minister (of whatever government) shouldn't be looking at these kind of issues then ? How come it wasn't an issue for Miliband when he was in a position to do something about it, but now that it's seen as a vote winner it is suddenly a hot topic ?

Put it another way: should someone do something about the huge rises to utility bills or not? And if so, what?

And if not, how do you expect people to manage to live when, as the ONS reported last November, inflation has outstripped income rises for the past 12 years? What will have to give?

Mind, rlpoor Centricarl.

One of the comments at the foot of this:

"two years ago paid £30 per month now I pay £200 per month that's where they are getting the millions from plebs like ME"

Another indicator of just why so many people are struggling to make ends meet.

Privatisation – what a great success story for the country's citizens.

I'd like to think that there's been a bit of a genuine change, and realisation that 'something must be done' (sorry for the dreadful cliché) for ordinary people and this is just one possible measure.

It's an interesting move (announcement). Successive governments have either been ideologically in hock to big business or scared of them – which is why I don't think it's been tackled although, IIRC, Cameron had floated some sort of idea on the issue a year or so ago. Yet even this morning, Miliband has hit back at the rlcomplaints from the energy companiesrl.

All rather unexpected.

The closest I've come to cheering a politician for as long as I can remember. It might well be too bold a move and the backlash might end up destroying him politically, but its better than giving up without any kind of fight.

One rather hopes that the the veiled threats from the energy companies might have a backlash – not least since they are, in many cases, foreign-owned, so you have an entire idea of furrin companies holding the country to ransom etc.

Doesn't make privatisation look any better either.

A large proportion of the price that energy consumers pay for energy is the environmental and carbon taxes that were introduced under the last Government to pay for the infrastructure changes that are needed to secure future energy supply. www.ovoenergy.com/energy-tariffs ... oney-goes/ Rather than regulating the markets in such a manner, they should be encouraging more competition and innovation in the sector and looking at alternative sources of energy. The only major economy that has seen energy prices for consumers fall in recent years in the USA, where they have put energy security as a major national priority. They have invested in other sources of energy such as fracking, and opened up markets to more competition.

A large proportion of the price that energy consumers pay for energy is the environmental and carbon taxes that were introduced under the last Government to pay for the infrastructure changes that are needed to secure future energy supply. www.ovoenergy.com/energy-tariffs ... oney-goes/ Rather than regulating the markets in such a manner, they should be encouraging more competition and innovation in the sector and looking at alternative sources of energy. The only major economy that has seen energy prices for consumers fall in recent years in the USA, where they have put energy security as a major national priority. They have invested in other sources of energy such as fracking, and opened up markets to more competition.

The thing is though that these foreign-owned companies are not in business to supply energy, they are in business to make money. That is their ultimate driving force.

If a freeze led to a situation where the cost of producing the energy is more than they can sell it for then it's highly probable that they would cease, or at least restrict, supply if that was the most economically benificial thing for them to do. Supplying energy is secondary to making (or not losing) money to them.

I'm not defending them for it and quite frankly they have manipulated prices for years through restricting supply but Miliband is playing a dangerous game talking about absolute freezes on prices. I don't see how he can make that work. I reckon we will eventually see a compromise where the energy companies margins are capped on a cost plus basis against wholesale market prices for a while. That's if Miliband ever gets into power of course.