MPs planning to slap radical price controls on Big Six energy firms

MINISTERS are considering radical plans to slap a wave of price controls on Big Six energy giants in an unprecedented shake up of the power market.

The Sun can reveal Consumer Minister Margot James met with consumer groups and charities at a London summit to discuss options to protect millions of hard-up families.

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Senior sources claim they go far beyond proposals tabled by regulators at the start of August.

Then, the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) suggested a price cap for vulnerable customers on pre-payment meters.

But the new options being considered would look to extend the cap to other households on low-income, pension credit or ‘cold weather’ benefits for as long as two-years.

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Critically, industry experts are also pushing Theresa May’s Government to force gas and electricity giants to automatically put customers on cheaper deals if they haven’t switched for a set period of years.

A further proposal would see the Government limit price hikes customers face when cheaper fixed-price deals end.

Currently customers face “stealth” increases of as much as 50 per cent or £340 when dumped on a standard variable rate by the Big Six.

One source told the Sun: “There’s a real appetite to do something within Government.

“And there’s recognition, even from the regulator, that the CMA proposals in August will do little to fix the problem.

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“We’ve been left with something that is unlikely to change much of the Big Six’s behaviour.”

Such a radical move by a Tory Government would threaten to completely outflank Labour – and help Theresa May deliver on her pledge in July to help “ordinary working class families”.

Insiders claim energy is likely to be a big part of the PM’s social reform package at the upcoming Tory party conference.

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband forced a panicked David Cameron into a reshaping of energy policy when he promised a two-year bill freeze in the run-up to the 2015 General Election.

Citizens Advice said an estimated 74 per cent of the lowest income consumers have never switched – meaning they could be paying as much as £300 a year more for their gas and electricity.

But 70 per cent of the highest earners in the country are on the cheapest power deals – almost all of which are only available online.

James Plunkett, Citizens Advice director of policy, told the Sun: “The Prime Minister has been clear she wants to do more for consumers and this is really encouraging.

“We’ve had long standing concerns that the energy market isn’t working for the majority of customers.”

Former CMA chief exec Alex Chisholm left the regulator to become the highest ranking civil servant in the Department for Energy and Climate Change earlier this Spring.