Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will discuss with his counterparts in the devolved administrations the effect of the number of energy suppliers on the consumer price across the UK; and where that price is (a) highest and (b) lowest.

Competition in the energy markets is crucial to keeping prices as low as possible and to raising consumer confidence in the energy market. Since 2010 we have seen 12 new companies enter the British domestic market challenging the existing companies. Despite this there are concerns about the level of competition therefore Ofgem has referred the market to the Competition and Markets Authority for a full Market Investigation.

Energy policy is devolved to the Northern Irish Assembly.

DECC publish regional electricity and gas bills information in Quarterly Energy Prices. Differences between regions are due to several factors including regional variation in pricing and the proportion of consumers who have switched supplier onto cheaper tariffs. DECC estimate that in 2013 the average retail electricity bill was highest in the North Scotland and lowest in the East Midlands and that the average retail gas bill is highest in London and lowest in North Scotland.

Source: DECC Quarterly Energy Prices, table 2.2.3 for electricity and 2.3.3 for gas https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/annual-domestic-energy-price-statistics. Provisional estimates for regional bills for 2014 will be published Thursday 18th December 2014. Northern Ireland data is included in the electricity comparison but DECC do not publish gas bills for Northern Ireland.)