Use bumper energy profits to scrap ‘grossly unfair’ energy bill postcode lottery

The Liberal Democrats have called for the scrapping of the regional differences in electricity and gas bills, which is seeing some households paying £124 more for their gas and electricity just because of where they live. The UK is broken up into fourteen different pricing regions where it costs different amounts to get electricity and gas to people’s homes. This leads to people in the North of Scotland, Wales and South West England paying more for their gas and electricity bills than other parts of the country.  Analysis by the Liberal Democrats shows that households in North Wales and Merseyside pay the most for their bills, paying £126 more for the same amount of energy as households in the North East who pay the least. Households in the South West pay almost £109 more, with those in London paying an extra £97.59. Party leader Ed Davey said Boris Johnson's failure to scrap the differences showed he isn’t serious about “levelling up the country” and called for the electricity and gas companies, who made £5 billion in profits last year, to divert a proportion of this windfall to ensure households pay the cheapest possible price for gas and electricity. Liberal Democrats are also calling for a Windfall Tax on the super profits of gas and oil producers and traders to fund support for the most vulnerable households. Their calls come as households are facing an unprecedented cost of living crisis, with Ofgem announcing that average energy bills will rise to £1,971 in April. Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey MP said: “It is grossly unfair that at a time millions are facing eye-watering increases to their energy bills, some people are paying more based simply on where they live. “If the Conservatives were serious about levelling up, they’d work with energy companies to use some of the huge windfall profits they’ve seen to end this energy postcode lottery right now - which would help ease the squeeze on hard-pressed families. “The deadly cocktail of rising inflation and soaring energy bills is pushing people to breaking point. Ministers must do more to address this growing crisis before it’s too late.”