Call for windfall tax on energy giants

Organisations such as The National Housing Federation have called on the government to hit energy suppliers with a windfall tax if they continue to raise their prices.

Last week Centrica, which owns British gas, announced that it would increase gas bills by 35 % and electricity by 9 %. Days later, it revealed a £992 million interim profit.

Those who are suffering the most from these rising prices are the UK’s four million prepayment customers, which mainly consist of the poorest households in the country.

Responding to the question of a windfall tax, Alistair Darling responded:

“There are two problems with that and they are the principle and the practicality. Two years ago, people were calling for a windfall tax on the banks. I don’t think anyone would want to see that today.”

Ruth Davison, director of campaigns and neighbourhoods at the federation, said:

“If the big energy suppliers continue to ignore government’s warnings to lower their prepayment charges, they should be hit where it hurts – in their pockets.” She added, “If they fail to act, tens of thousands of households will be plunged into fuel poverty this winter.”

Be the first to comment

Nobody has made any comments on this entry - be the first to have your say below.




More Recent News

  • Slight rise in volume sales for October BBC News 20 Nov. 2008 Property sales rose slightly in October, for the second month in a row, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said. Read more
  • Mortgage lending rises by 7% Alex Coxall 20 Nov. 2008 Mortgage lending rose by almost 7% in October over September, suggests figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders today. Although this shows a move in a positive direction the figures are significantly down on the October of the previous year. Read more
  • Buy-to-let trouble ahead BBC 19 Nov. 2008 Between 20% and 40% of buy-to-let (BTL) landlords will fall into negative equity if house prices keep on falling at their current rate, a report says. Read more
  • RICS survey conclusions Alex Coxall 14 Nov. 2008 Transactions have slowed again during October but lead activity indicators and the headline price balance has improved, according to a survey carried out by RICS. Read more
  • Nationwide predict fall into 2010 Alex Coxall 10 Nov. 2008 Graham Beale, chief executive of Nationwide is predicting that house prices will continue to fall possibly into 2010. Over all he predicts that the market will decline by 25% from its peak value to the lowest point. Read more
More news