THE BOSS of Ofgem has been slammed as “disgraceful” after explaining that the reason the price cap is being lifted by 10% is to allow energy companies to make a “small profit”.
The average household energy bill is to increase by £149 from October after the energy regulator announced the move today as homes approach the winter months, amid fears for pensioners already contending with Labour cutting the Winter Fuel Payment.
Speaking on the BBC’s Breakfast Show (below), Jonathan Brearley was asked for the reasoning behind lifting the cap by 10%.
The head of Ofgem, which boasts its job is to protect energy customers, explains its increasing bills by 10% because it has to allow energy companies to make a small profit. Last year British Gas profits increased 10 fold to £750m. pic.twitter.com/8mYnScxuLg
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) August 23, 2024
“The main reason is that the price cap is designed in a way that energy companies can recover fair costs and a small profit, but no more than that,” he said.
“And when those costs change, those costs unfortunately do feed through.”
But the Ofgem chief executive was slammed for the comments, with some highlighting that the likes of British Gas announced earlier this year that its profits for 2023 increased 10-fold to £750m.
“I’m sorry but whilst energy companies are showing record profits there should be no increase to the cap,” said one social media user.
“All this demonstrates is either Ofgem are a toothless organisation or they don’t have the interests of the general public first.”
"Everything wrong with our country and the energy sector," said another in response. "This is why we need real publicly owned energy, it’s an essential service not a luxury for profit."
SNP drugs minister Christina McKelvie, meanwhile, called it “disgraceful”.
“[And] it exposes the total nonsense of Labour’s election campaign on cheaper energy for households,” she added.
“Not content with freezing pensioners they are now allowing a 10% rise many folk can’t afford.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves recently announced that the UK Government would cut back the Winter Fuel Payment, which was previously universal and worth between £100 and £300 for British pensioners.
