Energy Prices (Hansard, 28 October 1985)

§ 8. Mr. Winnick
asked the Secretary of State for Energy what discussions he has had with the chairmen of the gas and electricity industries regarding energy prices in the next 12 months.

§ Mr. Peter Walker
I have frequent meetings with the chairmen. Prices are a matter for the industries.

§ Mr. Winnick
Are we going to find that the Secretary of State has yet again lost his battle with the Treasury over substantial fuel increases? Is he aware that increasing gas prices cause great hardship to many people, particularly those on low incomes who receive no assistance in paying their fuel bills? When will the Secretary of State recognise that these substantial increases are totally without justification?

§ Mr. Walker
The hon. Gentleman should realise that electricity prices have risen by only 6 per cent. over the past three years, whereas under the Labour Government whom he supported they went up by 6 per cent. every four months. If he fights the next election on gas and electricity prices, for the second time he will be defeated by the electorate.

§ Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
Does my right hon. Friend agree that efficiency improvements in the gas and electricity industries should be passed on to the customer and to industry to maintain competitiveness with cheap energy countries? Will he, therefore, impress on his Cabinet colleagues that if they wish to increase taxation it should be done openly and not by artificially increasing prices?

§ Mr. Walker
That is why I am pleased that in real terms not only are gas prices at the same level as in 1970, but that in the last three years both gas and electricity prices have gone down in real terms. I rejoice in that fact.

§ Mr. Bruce
Will the Secretary of State acknowledge that he and the Government have shown a bad example over the past few years to any potential private owners of British Gas as to how to exploit a monopoly? Will he acknowledge that with the privatisation of British Gas there is real tension, with the Government trying to maximise the price at the expense of consumer protection? Will he, as Secretary of State for Energy, assure the House that he is on the side of the consumer?

§ Mr. Walker
Of course. The record of the past three years shows that consumers of gas and electricity have done better than at any time since the war.

§ Mr. McQuarrie
While I accept what my right hon. Friend said about the right of industries to agree prices, does he agree that any increase projected by either the gas or the electricity industry as a direct result of the miners' strike would be totally unacceptable to consumers?

§ Mr. Walker
There are many extra costs arising from the strike. The fact that certain price increases have not taken place during the period of that strike and since indicate that the Government share my hon. Friend's view.

§ Mr. Rowlands
May I jog the Secretary of State's memory? His predecessor introduced a formula of 10 per cent. above the rate of inflation for three years on the run for gas prices, leading to over 100 per cent. increase I understand that Sir Denis Rooke has said that there will be no need for increases in gas prices above the rate of inflation. Will the Secretary of State assure us that the Government are not proposing, or assuming that there will be, any bigger increases than this in future?

§ Mr. Walker
Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would care to ask, in the form of a written question, for publication of a list of price rises under a Labour Government as compared with this Government. The answer will show that their record vis à vis inflation or anything else is an appalling and disgusting one, of which the Labour party should be ashamed.