The Labour party have claimed that the six main energy suppliers (SSE, E.ON, EDF, npower, Scottish Power and British Gas) have inflated prices artificially over the past three years.

The Labour party who have promised to freeze energy prices, claimed after analysing official figures that the six big energy firms had paid £4 billion more for power than the going market rate, resulting in inflated prices for customers.

Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said that households pay around £50 per year more with the major energy suppliers for energy, than they would pay on the open market.

The shadow energy secretary said: "Energy companies always blame wholesale costs when they put up bills, but it now looks like they could have deliberately inflated prices to boost profits from their power stations.”

She added: "The time has come for a complete overhaul of our energy market. Labour will break up the big energy companies, put an end to the secret deals and force them to do all of their trading on the open market."

Representative of the six suppliers, Energy UK, said that the posted figures covered more than the wholesale cost of energy.

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