CCHQ goes on the attack over energy prices – you’d pay £61 more under Labour, they warn

By Peter Hoskin
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Energy Bill today will save £158 with Conservatives or you'll pay £61 extra under Labour >>> twitter.com/grantshapps/st…

— Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) June 3, 2013

The Energy Bill will be debated in Parliament today, but the scrap is already underway on the streets of Westminster. CCHQ has today released a graphic – contained within Grant Shapps' tweet, above – pointing to a stark choice: an immediate £61 rise in your energy bills under Labour’s current plans versus a “potential saving” of £158 under the Conservatives’. That graphic is also pasted at the bottom of this post.

Where do the numbers come from? The £158 is from an Ofgem report which suggests that people can save up to that much by switching to the cheapest tariff deal on the market, as the Tories’ policies allow. The other figure is based on Ed Miliband’s opposition to solar subsidy reforms which have, apparently, already saved an average £61 for each household.