Social energy tariff gets boost – but who will keep the heating on during ‘deep consultation’?

Energy companies deserve to take heat for forcing consumers onto prepayment meters but that won’t solve this winter’s cost crisis, writes James Moore

Prices running hot: The idea of a ‘social energy tariff’ is gaining traction (AFP)

That some Britons have been forced into a position of making the impossible choice of whether to heat or eat is unconscionable. For some disabled people, it’s even worse. It’s heat or ventilate, a point I first raised back in August.

Last week, there was a brief chink of light when a coalition of charities fronted by Scope, Age UK, National Energy Action and Fair by Design, which campaigns to end the poverty premium, floated the idea of a discounted tariff targeted at those in greatest need.

Remarkably, in a country where good ideas tend to get strangled by the thick forest of weeds growing around government, this seems to be getting some real traction.