At Labour Party Conference Malcolm Wicks
criticised energy regulator Ofgem on the grounds that they had "not
understood fuel poverty". To a shocked silence, he went on: "They
haven’t been a force in social policy when it comes to all of this. When I met
some of them, years ago now, some of their technocrats told me about the
wonders of switching. They had no idea that many of my constituents are nowhere
near a computer and had other priorities than switching from supplier to
supplier every month. So I think, sociologically, that there’s been an
ignorance there." For the past three years Wicks has been minister
responsible for ensuring the government’s energy priorities are in fact
prioritised by Ofgem.
