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Stone calls for public ownership intervention to protect energy consumers


By Alan Hendry

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Local MP Jamie Stone is calling for an energy supplier to be taken into public ownership to help protect householders from spiralling bills.

He has asked whether the UK government will consider intervening in the way it did with the Northern Rock bank in 2008.

Mr Stone, the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, has secured a meeting with the business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.

Following a ministerial statement on gas networks, Mr Kwarteng said there was an ongoing need to protect consumers and that he would be happy to speak to Mr Stone further to discuss his ideas.

Mr Stone’s call came as energy companies warned that being forced to take on the customers of bust providers could mean a further hike in household bills.

When the energy regulator Ofgem transfers customer accounts from failed energy suppliers to a regulator-appointed company, the new supplier is responsible for covering the cost of any existing credit balances.

With wholesale gas prices having risen 250 per cent since January 2021, there are fears that the cost of bailing out failing companies will be transferred from energy companies to existing household bill payers.

Speaking after the debate, Mr Stone said: “Day-to-day life has become increasingly expensive in recent months. We cannot heap more costs onto struggling households.

"In the short term, the government should protect consumers from paying for these collapsing energy companies by taking a supplier into public ownership until such market volatility has passed. I look forward to further conversations with the secretary of state to take this forward.”

Earlier, Mr Kwarteng had held a series of meetings with senior executives from the energy industry to discuss the impact of high gas prices – "driven by international supply and demand factors", according to the UK government.

In a statement, the government said security of supply was "not a cause for immediate concern within the industry".

It added: "The UK benefits from having a diverse range of gas supply sources, with sufficient capacity to more than meet demand... The UK’s gas system continues to operate reliably and we do not anticipate any increased risk of supply emergencies this winter.

"We are confident that security of supply can be maintained under a wide range of scenarios. Great Britain also benefits from a diverse electricity mix, which is one of the reasons why we have one of the most reliable electricity systems in the world."


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