MP Sheridan calls for cuts to energy bills

Mar 16 2010 by Cameron Hay, Paisley Daily Express

SUPER-RICH energy firms should make immediate cuts to their prices, a Paisley MP has demanded.

Labour’s Jim Sheridan, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, wants to see firms such as British Gas lower prices after the company posted massive annual profits.

They announced a 58 per cent rise in profits last year to £595million.

And rival firm Scottish Power also confirmed that its annual profits had jumped 7.9 per cent to almost £1.3billion.

A big fall in the wholesale costs are believed to have triggered huge savings for the energy firms, leading to the bumper profits.

Last year the big, including E.ON, EDF Energy, nPower, Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Energy, were paying 32 per cent less for gas than last year – down by 62 per cent on the high in 2008.

Electricity costs also dropped by 33 per cent last year – and 61 per cent from the previous 12 months.

Mr Sheridan said it was time for falling wholesale prices to be passed on to the consumer. The minister told the Paisley Daily Express that energy companies could afford to give help to households that had struggled through one of the coldest winters on record.

He saidd: “Now is the time for energy companies such as British Gas to cut their prices to the consumers.

“My constituents in Paisley and Renfrewshire have been paying huge bills due to the extreme weather.

“Like many of my constituents I believe that some of the massive profits the energy companies are making should be used to cut the prices and ease the pressure of the hard working people of Renfrewshire.”