Watford homes overcharged £9.4million on gas bills

8.00.54am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 11th Jun 2009

Watford households have been overcharged more than £9.4million for gas in the last year - over £200 per household - Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Watford has revealed.

Wholesale natural gas prices have decreased by more than half over the last year whilst the average UK household has seen their gas bill go down by only 3%. If the wholesale price reduction was reflected in gas bills, every UK household would have saved an extra £218.

Energy suppliers are also able to change the price of energy for up to 65 days after the energy has been used. This means that people won't know how much they're being charged until two months after using the gas and electricity they're paying for.

Sal Brinton is writing to Ofgem about the issue, branding it as 'ridiculous', and is calling on this rule to be revoked immediately.

Sal Brinton said: "Homes in Watford are struggling to pay bills but here we have gas suppliers penalising customers for their own profits. The rules on energy charging are completely unfair and are failing everyday people at the time they most need help. They are taking the British public for a ride.

"Energy suppliers are simply charging far too much. An extra £218 a year would make a huge difference to the average household - maybe Mr Brown should focus on this rather than wasting billions of pounds on a useless VAT cut.

"Instead this Government continues their cosy consensus with the Tories of putting the desires of big business before the needs of the consumer."