MPs urge using energy network windfalls to wipe out household debt

A crossparty group of MPs has urged ministers to use excess profits earned by energy network companies to help wipe out record household energy debts, saying the money could fund a lasting debt relief scheme as the government considers measures to ease cost of living pressures. The call came in a report from the House of Commons Energy Security and Net Zero committee published this week, which set out that household energy debt has more than tripled in five years to roughly £4.4 billion and that network companies have made about £4.15 billion in windfall gains since 2021.

The committee, chaired by Bill Esterson, said the gains stem largely from network firms outperforming regulatory price controls after Ofgem’s assumptions about borrowing costs were exceeded when interest rates rose. “British energy consumers are £4 billion in debt, while network companies have made over £4 billion in excess profits,” Esterson said, adding that MPs want the government to recoup those gains to benefit bill payers. The committee cited analysis from Citizens Advice showing the windfalls arose in part because networks were able to pass higher assumed borrowing costs into consumer bills even when...