The Liberal Democrats have today called for the scrapping of the regional differences in electricity and gas bills, which sees some households paying £124 more for their gas and electricity just because of where they live.
Party leader Ed Davey said Boris Johnson’s failure to scrap the differences showed he isn’t serious about “levelling up the country.”
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 based on those who use a high amount of energy – 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, those in London pay £97.59.
The call comes as households are facing an unprecedented cost of living crisis, with Ofgem announcing that average energy bills will rise to £1,971 in April.
The electricity and gas distribution companies made £5 billion in profits last year. Liberal Democrats are calling for a proportion of these profits to be redirected to ensuring that households pay the cheapest possible price for gas and electricity distribution.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat Leader 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 end this energy postcode lottery now.”