Power bills must be cut soon demands watchdog

In a two-pronged attack, the Government and consumer watchdogs said gas and electricity bills need to start coming down within weeks.

The criticism comes after petrol retailers announced a series of cuts in the price of fuel that has taken it down to levels not seen since last year.

However, there are no signs yet that the "Big Six" household energy companies British Gas, EDF, Scottish Power, Scottish & Southern Energy, npower and Eon are ready to follow suit.

Ed Mayo, chief executive of watchdog Consumer Focus, said: "Energy companies all put their prices up, arguing that it was down to rising costs of oil and gas, but now that is reversed we are seeing delay, blather and procrastination. We believe that consumer prices need to come down with no ifs and buts over the coming weeks."

In a separate attack, the former head of the Energywatch consumer group said household bills could be cut by £300-£400 a year, from an average level of around £1,200, with more vigorous competition between suppliers.

Allan Asher told BBC Radio's File on 4 that the Big Six should be referred to the Competition Commission.

Fears of a global recession have sent the oil price plummeting since it peaked at $147 a barrel in July. Today it was trading at only just over half that level at around $75. Wholesale gas prices have fallen by more than a quarter from a high of £1 a therm in August to around 72p a therm, but no company has cut household tariffs.

The suppliers all pushed through huge increases in tariffs of up to a third earlier in the year, sending the typical household bill spiralling.

A spokesman for Gordon Brown said: "What we have seen is prices going up for fuel and energy when the oil price went up and now that the oil price has come down, the public would naturally expect retail prices for fuel and household energy to come down as well."

Ed Miliband, the new Energy Secretary, last week met bosses from the major suppliers to stress the Government's expectation that prices will fall significantly. However, the energy industry has dampened hopes that the prices will start to come down soon as suppliers are already locked into expensive contracts over the winter.

Garry Felgate, chief executive of the Energy Retailers Association, said: "As gas is bought through long- and short -term contracts on the wholesale market, there is always a time lag between when the wholesale price rises or falls and when customers' domestic bills rise or fall."

A spokesman for Centrica, which owns British Gas, said: "It is welcome that wholesale gas prices are falling but they remain very much higher than last winter and that is a key issue facing the whole of the industry."