22 July 2008
Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks has urged energy suppliers to reduce their charges for customers on pre-payment gas and electricity meters. He claims many of these tariffs are "unjust" because they cost significantly more than the lowest rates on the market, the BBC reports. It is thought that around four million households are on pre-payment meters, many of whom are low incomes families struggling to pay their energy bills. Mr Wicks has asked the energy regulator Ofgem to look into the issue of pre-payment meters and insists the government is prepared to legislate depending on what the report concludes. "The extra costs that people on pre-payment meters are now having to meet seem totally disproportionate," he told the BBC, adding: "The gap between what they're paying and what other people are paying has grown to a very unjust extent." Energy suppliers claim pre-payments meters cost more to install and service, which is why charges are often higher. However they insist prices have been reduced on some tariffs. Last week, uSwitch.com warned that rising gas and electricity prices could force another 2.4 million people into fuel poverty by 2010.