Fuel Poverty Action, an EFPC member, are continuing to press for the abolition of extra charges for energy customers using prepayment meters.
In October the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it would impose a cap on costs for prepayment customers that would reduce bills by £75 a year. While a reduction is of course welcome, £75 is certainly not enough.
Prepayment meter users pay on average £300 more than customers on direct debit and are usually the worst off customers. Fuel Poverty Action, in collaboration with a number of organisations, are campaigning for parity on energy costs, regardless of the method of payment.
So back on 11th November FPA and friends took action and went to the CMA directly to hand in their response, held in in a tiny doll’s cap, to highlight the insult of the CMA’s insufficient proposal.
Passing on the cap containing a scroll with the response, Ruth London of FPA told Project Director Erika Lewis,
“Energy companies’ license conditions forbid discrimination against users of PPMs, the CMA’s own Roger Witcombe has declared, ‘It is unacceptable that 4 million households on prepayment meters, many of them vulnerable, face higher bills than other energy customers,’ and yet the CMA’s proposals will perpetuate this injustice.”
Erika Lewis, for the CMA, agreed that the proposals are not set in stone and promised that they would take seriously the evidence provided.
To find out more and read Fuel Poverty Action’s statement on the CMA announcement please go to www.fuelpovertyaction.org.uk