As a member of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, Polly has called for energy companies’ excess profits to be used to pay down the more than £4 billion of energy bill debt owed by some of the UK’s poorest households, including in places like Thanet.
Households in the UK are facing rising energy debt while network firms quietly made record profits. The Committee’s report shows that grid operators have pocketed around £4 billion in excess returns from 2021-24 after a mis-calculation by regulator Ofgem on borrowing costs. Meanwhile, energy bills remain high and many families are struggling to stay warm. Polly and the Committee are calling for those profits to be used to cancel energy debts owed by the poorest households, which all energy bill customers are ultimately paying for through higher bills.
It’s not fair that all of us are paying higher bills to pay the debts of the poorest households, while the energy companies make huge profits, so I won’t stop banging the drum for a fairer energy system and cheaper bills.