Nia Griffith MP for Llanelli has joined forces with Anglesey’s Albert Owen MP to campaign to get a level playing field for sharing out electricity distribution costs across the whole of the UK, which would result in lower electricity bills for people in Wales. Under the present system the higher costs for distributing electricity in Wales are passed directly on to Welsh consumers. This means that customers across Wales, together with those in Northern Scotland and South-West England pay some of the highest electricity prices in the UK.
Nia Griffith MP explains,
“The present system means that the higher costs for distribution in Wales are passed directly on to consumers in Wales, leaving customers in both South and North Wales, along with those in Northern Scotland and South-West England paying the highest electricity bills in the UK. The average standard annual duel fuel bill in South Wales it is £1,201.39, and in North Wales it is £1,214.20., whereas in the cheapest areas it is only £1,164.68 We have a national grid and we should share out those distribution costs fairly amongst consumers across the whole of the UK. That would see customers in Wales make worthwhile savings. Here in the South we could expect an average £30 per year saving, and in North Wales where they pay even more than us, a saving of £40.
We are calling on the industry regulator Ofgem and the UK Government to conduct a review into a “single standard charge for every customer in Britain” which we hope will result in a plan for sharing these distribution costs equitably across the whole of the UK. Albert Owen MP and I are co-sponsors of an Early Day Motion (EDM) in the House of Commons which will allow MPs from all parties to show their support for this change.“