MANY Ceredigion residents may be unable to take full advantage of measures announced at Westminster to freeze or reduce energy prices.

Recent discussions between the Westminster Government and the six largest energy companies have aimed at securing £50 reductions in energy bills, whereas Labour have also announced their own price cap proposals.

However, a large number of households in Ceredigion who are unable to take advantage of the cheapest ‘dual fuel’ tariffs, as areas of the county are out of the reach of mains gas pipelines.

Mike Parker, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster candidate for Ceredigion, has written to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change highlighting the issue and asking how the Government proposes to ensure that people who do receive ‘off-mains’ energy supplies do not lose out.

Mr Parker said: “It’s clear that the Con-Dem government at Westminster hasn’t thought of areas such as Ceredigion when arriving at its policies on energy. It was with great fanfare that they hailed the agreements with the ‘big-6’ energy companies as a good deal for consumers, but it’s far from clear how people who aren’t on a gas main will get the full benefit.

“In large parts of Ceredigion, people face a choice between getting all their energy from electricity, or using oil, bottled gas or other off-grid fuels. This means that people aren’t eligible for the cheapest tariff. Under these ‘dual-fuel’ deals, people who are near a gas main can get a discount on their energy bills. It’s often these prices which are quoted by Government Ministers in their calculations.

“Plaid Cymru welcomes measures to reduce consumer energy bills, although the real reason for rising prices isn’t green taxes but energy company profiteering which needs to be tackled. That is why the Party of Wales has proposed a publicly-owned energy company, Energy Wales, with a not-for-distributable-profit model.”