Government told to ‘show more urgency’ in fighting rising energy prices

The Government needs to show more urgency in curbing rising gas and electricity prices, an energy boss has said.

Ovo chief executive Stephen Fitzpatrick told the BBC the impact of soaring wholesale gas prices will be “an enormous crisis for 2022”.

Fears of runaway household bills in the new year have been mounting since rising gas prices began bankrupting suppliers in September. Since then, prices have risen from 54p per therm of gas to £4.50.

In an interview with the broadcaster, Mr Fitzpatrick said: “We’ve seen this energy crisis unfold now for the last three months and we’ve watched as energy prices have spiked, fallen back, and spiked again.

“We’ve had more than 30 bankruptcies in the sector, we’ve had millions of customers forced to change supplier.

“The cost to the consumer has already been more than £4bn. We haven’t seen any action from the Government or from the regulator. There’s an acceptance that there’s a problem, but nowhere near enough urgency to find a solution.”

His comments come as Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to hold “emergency” meetings with energy industry bosses on Monday to address the rapidly rising wholesale gas prices.

According to The Times, bosses are likely to ask for tax cuts and the relaxation of green levies.

A Government spokesperson told the BBC: “We regularly engage with the energy industry and will continue to ensure that consumers are protected through the Energy Price Cap, which is insulating millions from record global gas prices.”