15:28 Nia Griffith (Labour)

There is a parallel between this debate and what we did in government to tackle the scandal of the high unit cost of electricity charged to those who pay using prepayment tokens. When we were in government, my right hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband), the then Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, put considerable pressure on the regulator Ofgem to tackle the energy companies with sustained pressure itself. The energy companies eventually reduced the unit costs paid by those using prepayment meters—reduced, yes; but admittedly not reduced to the very cheapest rates, which are paid by those who can shop around and choose to pay by direct debit, in recognition of the fact that, as the energy companies pointed out, there is a higher cost involved in the administration of prepayment meters. Nevertheless, there was a recognition that the charges had been too high, and they were reduced.

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