BBC Breakfast: Naga Munchetty grills Paul Scully on energy crisis

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Following BBC Breakfast’s main segment on the growing energy supply crisis, Alastair Campbell tweeted the claim that there were “more Number 10 press releases and lines to take leading the BBC News this morning”. His tweet came immediately after the broadcaster finished a report on how the Government was handling soaring energy prices, which have led to the collapse of nine small energy firms.

During the report, correspondent Ramzan Karmali said: “The Government has promised that the energy price cap will remain in place over winter, and it hopes this will protect millions of customers.

“But from Oct. 1, that cap is set to rise by 12 percent, meaning around 15 million households will still end up paying more.”

In a speech made to MPs in the House of Commons on Monday, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “Our priority in this situation has to be the consumer, the Great British public, and the cap has done that effectively.

“It protects, and has protected, millions of customers from sudden increases in global gas prices this winter. We are committed to the Price Cap and it will remain in place.”

However, Mr Kwarteng stated that the Price Cap “which still saves 15 million households up to £100 a year is staying”.

During his analysis, BBC political correspondent Adam Flemming said the “message the government really wants to send this morning” was “that they’re not on the side of the energy companies, they’re not helping them out or protecting them; they’re focus is on helping the actual bill-payers instead”.

This echoed Mr Kwarteng’s speech, in which he said: “I must stress that protecting consumers is our number one, our primary focus – and will shape our entire approach to this important issue.”

He added: “The government will not be bailing out failed companies. There will be no rewards for failure or mismanagement.

“The taxpayer should not be expected to prop-up companies who have poor business models and are not resilient to fluctuations in price.”

During his speech, Mr Kwarteng said the Government would not return to “the ‘cosy oligopoly’ of years past, where a few large suppliers simply dictated to customers conditions and pricing” – a reference to chief executive of Energywatch Allan Asher’s 2008 description of the UK energy market under New Labour.

The BBC’s report also featured a statement from Business Minister Paul Scully, but conspicuously lacked any statement from the opposition on the matter.

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Shadow Business Minister Ed Miliband said last night: “With more than 800,000 customers seeing their suppliers go bust today alone, the government must come clean about the scale of the crisis.

“Its response has been characterised by a lack of preparedness that got us into it and staggering complacency about how we get out of it.

On Tuesday, Mr Miliband claimed the government “ignored warnings on issues like gas storage, and allowed the closure of Rough in 2017, which was responsible for 75 percent of our gas storage.”

Avro Energy and Green are the latest energy firms to collapse after a sharp rise in global gas prices, due to an increased demand for fuel as economies around the world unlock from the coronavirus pandemic.

It means millions of people now face a swap to a different and possibly more expensive provider.

Other energy suppliers have gone bust as a result of the crisis, but Ofgem boss Jonathan Brearley warned that more are still at risk due to the “unprecedented” rise in gas prices.

Global natural gas prices have been rising sharply since April, with the cost of the commodity 280 percent higher in Europe this year.

BP announced today it is “prioritising” fuel deliveries in order to manage supplies.

BP’s head of retail Hanna Hofer met with the government last week where she described the situation as “bad, very bad.”

Meanwhile, German newspaper Zeit Online blamed the UK for the rise in gas prices.

In an article, it said that as part of the UK leaving the European Union, the UK also left the EU energy market, which allows for cross-border trading between countries of energy.

The BBC has been contacted for comment.

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