MPs condemn axing of Energywatch

Published:
22 September 2008
Topic:
News,Gas & Electricity

The decision to scrap Energywatch will make the pain worse for thousands of households facing soaring fuel bills, MPs have warned.

The power watchdog's role of championing consumers is to be absorbed into the new Customer Focus super-regulator on October 1, which ministers say will better protect the public.

Customers themselves will be expected to take up concerns with suppliers, which face tougher complaint regulations backed by a new ombudsman to adjudicate in disputes.

Tory MP Peter Luff, who chairs the Commons business committee that oversees energy policy, fears it has not got the staff in place with energy expertise.

He said: "It could be that complaints do not get dealt with quickly enough and that companies get away with mistakes. Consumers will pay a heavy price. To abolish Energywatch at this time of rapidly-rising energy prices is a spectacularly bad idea."

It was impossible to prevent it now, he said, but he pledged to keep a very close eye on developments and to grill the new body's bosses in Parliament.

Labour's Michael Clapham told the BBC: "We require somebody who is robust and will take aggressive action to protect the consumer. By removing Energywatch, we are not going to do that."

Copyright © PA Business 2008

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