Energy minister fails to confirm PM’s energy bill claim

In an answer an emergency question put by shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint, Energy Minister John Hayes confirmed the government would “bring forward legislation” to tackle concerns over energy prices.

During prime minister’s questions, David Cameron said the government was planning to force energy companies to give their customers the cheapest available deal.

He said: “I can announce that we will be legislating so that energy companies have to give the lowest tariff to their customers.

However, there was little detail about how such a scheme would work and the Department for Energy and Climate Change appeared to have been taken by surprise by the announcement.

Read Krishnan Guru-Murthy’s blog: From omnishambles to combishambles

But in answer to Ms Flint’s question asking if he knew about the government’s plans as revealed during Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions, Mr Hayes answered: “Yes we understand what the government is considering”.

The minister also rejected Ms Flint’s claim that the policy was being made up on the hoof and said that details of the government’s legislation plans would be discussed while the legislation was being subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

Pressure is mounting on the government to tackle rising energy prices with consumer anger over price rises increasing while firms report large profits.

Energy prices Q&A: the combishambles unpicked