Ed Davey said he’d fight like a tiger – instead he’s purred like a pussycat

Last week, Ed Davey said that he would “fight like a tiger” on energy bills. This week, as the Big Six put their finger under his chin and gave him a scratch, he purred like a pussycat.

Scrabbling for a policy to respond to the growing public anger about rising energy bills, and seemingly determined not to create the transparency required in the retail energy market, Ed Davey came to the Commons and delivered an Annual Energy Statement like a frightened rabbit caught in the headlights. With no policy himself, he decided to meekly follow the line of the large supply companies. On Tuesday, Tony Crocker of E.On called for a competition inquiry, rather than action. On Thursday, Ed Davey gave him just what he wanted. You can’t get tough with the Big Six by doing exactly what they tell you.

The problem is that we’ve just had an Ofgem review into competition. It concluded in June. Indeed, we’ve had 17 investigations since 2001. You have to question what exactly the Government thinks that Ofgem will find that it didn’t find 4 months ago. The latest review is a PR sham for a government behaving like a PR company for the big six.

This isn’t a serious policy. It’s an attempt to kick this issue into the long grass, to bury a conversation which the Tory-led coalition knows that it is losing, and losing badly.

What the Government fails to realise is that Ofgem is part of the problem, not the solution. This is the regulator which has overseen and abetted the current rip-off culture among the Big Six, whose previous investigations have failed to make serious ground and which has repeatedly sided with the utilities rather than the consumer.

Labour have promised to scrap Ofgem and replace with a new, tougher regulator that has greater powers to protect the interest of the consumer.

The Government’s other big announcement was equally flimsy. The Secretary of State says that he wants people to be able to switch between suppliers with greater speed. “Today I want to go faster!” he proclaimed, to uncomfortable silence from the benches behind him. It turns out, Ed Davey getting tough is him having invited the companies to sit down and talk about how they can make switching easier. Some of them haven’t replied. Some of them may not bother to turn up. Inviting them to tea isn’t “getting tough with the big six”.

The Government are ignoring the fact that the retail energy market simply does not work. The public get it, consumer groups get it, smaller suppliers get it, industry commentators get it and increasingly the right wing press get it – even Sir John Major gets it. Faster switching between high tariffs from a limited number of suppliers is not a solution in itself.

For the last two years, Labour have made the case for reform of the retail energy market – so it is clear, fair and transparent. Ensuring power is traded over an open market, ringfencing the retail and generation operations of the large companies, an end to over-the-counter deals and a tough regulator with a focus on protecting the consumer.

It is a model for a more competitive, more transparent market that will deliver a better deal to businesses and consumers.

The country is suffering the worst cost of living crisis for a hundred years and soaring energy bills are right at the heart of the problem. The Tories and Lib Dems have made clear that they are going to take their orders from the Big Six – it is Labour who are listening to and defending the rights of the consumer.

Tom Greatrex is the Shadow Energy Minister