EDDISBURY MP Antoinette Sandbach has spoken about introcuding the Tariff Cap in her Guardian column this week. 

"Virtually every household in the country depends on gas or electricity, or both. They are essential services on which we rely.

"On average, each household spends around £1,250 a year on energy at home. It is one of our biggest household bills and for the poorest 10 per cent of households energy is 10 per cent of their annual household expenditure.

"My role on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee has given me a shocking account of how predatory pricing is deployed within the energy market.

"Some companies have more than 80 per cent of their customers on standard variable tariffs, which is simply unacceptable. It is predatory pricing by companies, where they are using those so-called ‘sticky customers’ on the higher rates, to offer switching rates that new entrants to the market cannot compete with and are therefore squeezed out.

"The Government is taking action through introducing the Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill, and I welcome the help this will particularly give to the poorest households.

"By introducing a tariff cap, the Bill will help the poorest of households who switch energy provider on fewer occasions or not at all, and therefore are less likely to benefit from the best deals.

"We have already seen that a cap does work for vulnerable customers who have had their energy prices capped, and evidence has shown that most have benefitted in the long term.

"The introduction of a tariff cap is also being done as part of a wider strategy to encourage consumers, particularly those on lower earnings to switch energy provider more often.

"Some 29 per cent of those who earn above £16,000 have never switched, but this figure rises to 39 per cent for those who earn less than £16,000."