Commenting on Big Six energy giant E.on’s financial results today, Friends of the Earth's Energy Campaigner Paul Steedman said:

“E.on bosses blame rising global gas prices for their slide in profits and increasing household fuel bills – yet they and the other big energy firms continue to keep the UK hooked on expensive imported gas.

“Gas is a costly, polluting dead end – to guarantee energy we can all afford we need to switch to clean British energy and slash energy waste.

“David Cameron must stop the energy rip-off and call a public inquiry into the power of the Big Six.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. 86% of people support an independent public inquiry into the big six energy companies, according to a YouGov survey carried out for Friends of the Earth and Compass on 16-18 February 2012. The poll also showed strong support for clean British energy - 70% of people want the Government to force the big energy companies to invest in power from the UK's wind, sun, waves and tides.
2. New research from Friends of the Earth shows that energy firms including the Big Six are planning to build nearly double the number of gas-fired power stations the Government says the UK may need, in a move that energy experts predict will drive up household energy costs due to ever-increasing gas prices. See Friends of the Earth’s analysis ‘Enough is Enough: new gas-fired power station capacity in the UK’ for more information.
3. Friends of the Earth’s new report ‘Gas prices: is the only way up?’ looks at global factors affecting gas prices now and in the future.
4. Tens of thousands of people have joined Friends of the Earth's Final Demand Campaign, launched in October last year, which calls for energy we can all afford and a public inquiry into the power and influence of the Big Six energy companies.
5. One in four households are in fuel poverty, according to Consumer Focus figures from December 2011.