Just days after Swindon’s Tory MPs, Robert Buckland and Justin Tomlinson, voted against freezing Energy Bills now in the House of Commons, Labour’s South Swindon Parliamentary Candidate Anne Snelgrove has discovered that families in many of the town’s new houses are prevented from switching their gas company.
Just days after Swindon’s Tory MPs, Robert Buckland and Justin Tomlinson, voted against freezing Energy Bills now in the House of Commons, Labour’s South Swindon Parliamentary Candidate Anne Snelgrove has discovered that families in many of the town’s new houses are prevented from switching their gas company.
Despite claims by Conservative MPs and the Government that the answer to cheaper gas bills is to switch supplier, families in new build houses in Swindon are likely to be prevented from doing so because their gas is supplied to them by an ‘Independent Gas Transporter’. Despite calling themselves ‘independent’, these are largely owned by the major energy companies.
Agreements are made with landowners by the Big Six energy companies to supply gas when new estates are built in Swindon. The agreements prevent individual homeowners and renters from switching to smaller, cheaper companies such as Good Energy in Chippenham, because only the Big Six are able to take over an Independent Gas Transporter. Even when it is possible to switch, householders find there’s little or no difference to their bills due to the higher premiums, and the process takes far longer than usual (up to 12 weeks).
House builders prefer Independent Gas Transporters because they offer them a cheaper deal than the national gas supplier. However, individual homeowners end up paying more for their gas because the companies have a monopoly in their road or estate.
Anne Snelgrove, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for South Swindon condemned the practice: ‘This is an absolute scam and proves that the energy market is rigged for hard pressed Swindon families in new houses. It is impossible for people to switch gas suppliers to take advantage of some of the cheapest options: small companies’ fixed term tariffs and dual gas/electricity providers.
‘To add insult to injury, these families pay more for their gas as the Independent Gas Transporters charge a premium. The only way to sort this out is to freeze gas and electricity bills now and sort out the market to prevent massive increases in bills.
‘It is shameful that Swindon'sTory MPs voted against energy price freezing, which could have saved over 42,000 South Swindon households £60 – £120 this winter as well as all small businesses.
Swindon Labour Party will continue to collect signatures for our petition calling on the Government to freeze gas and electricity prices now. We will be in the centre of Swindon at 2.30 on Saturday 9 November if people want to sign the petition.’
A resident from the Abbeymeads estate who contacted Anne has tried and failed to switch: ‘I've just tried to switch to 'Good Energy' based in Chippenham only to be told that, due to our meters not being on the national grid, they are unable to supply me with cheaper energy.
‘This potentially means that all of those on the Abbeymeads estate (and possibly most of the newer estates around Swindon) are locked into the energy cartel of the big six due to the meters being classed as an independent supply, so only those with an agreement with the land owners, can supply you with Gas/Electric.’
It is very difficult to find out where these secretive networks operate – it could be individual roads or entire estates, depending on the deals done when the land was sold. Many householders in Swindon’s new housing, including Wichelstowe and Abbeymeads, are likely to find they are unable to switch providers to get the cheapest energy prices.
Swindon Labour Party members with Anne Snelgrove and Mark Dempsey (North Swindon Parliamentary Candidate) will be collecting signatures for the Energy Petition and talking to Swindon families about gas and electricity bills in Swindon town centre on Saturday 9 November at 2.30pm (by the fountain).
