Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool today, shadow energy secretary Barry Gardiner said his party will force suppliers rename their standard variable tariffs as the ‘penalty rate tariff’. It will introduce new laws to make suppliers automatically transfer any customer who has been on the tariff for longer than 18 months to their cheapest one.
Companies will also be obliged notify customers of the best deal on the market based on their energy usage over the previous year.
“How can it be right that when the government found out that we were being overcharged by £1.4 billion a year on our energy bills they said ‘It’s all the customers fault – we should shop around more!’ We need to shop around for a new government,” Gardiner told delegates.
“A new Labour government will legislate to force the energy companies to put you on their cheapest tariff and to tell you if you can get a better deal elsewhere.”
In line with the energy manifesto launched by Jeremy Corbyn earlier this month, a new programme will be launched called Repowering Britain, which will put consumers “in control” of their energy.
“We need to localise the way energy is produced and stored,” said Gardiner. “I want people earning from the energy they produce on their rooftop solar or their community wind turbines, not just consuming what the big six sell.”
A new Labour government will allow ‘direct connection’ so consumers can buy locally-generated renewable energy, and community energy groups will be given a ‘right-to-supply’ so they can sell power to people in their area.
The houses of disabled veterans will be insulated for free as part of a new Homes for Heroes programme. Around 18,000 former service personnel will be eligible for the scheme which will also cover other energy efficiency measures such as boiler upgrades.
The shadow energy secretary confirmed that a Labour government will ban hydraulic fracturing in Britain. Although there are technical problems with the controversial extraction technique which “give rise to real environmental dangers”, Gardiner said they could be overcome. The real reason it needs to be banned is that it “locks us into an energy infrastructure that is based on fossil fuel fuels long after our country needs to have moved to clean energy”, he added.