The post you are reporting:
#18
P.S.
This is the rest of the repost I pasted...
"The levies pay towards cutting the cost of energy waste and encouraging low-carbon investment as well as helping vulnerable households pay for their supply.
SSE claims transferring the costs of these "environmental and social policies" to the taxpayer would slash up to £4bn from UK energy bills, saving families around £110 each.
It accused policymakers over many years of failing "to highlight adequately the cost to consumers of the policies they have pursued."
But Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: "Half of an average energy bill is made up of the wholesale cost of energy.
"This far outweighs the proportion of a bill that goes to help vulnerable households with their bills and to cut energy waste, and to encourage investment in the new low-carbon energy generation we need to keep the lights on.
"SSE's own figures show that wholesale price rises have contributed more than policy costs to this price increase, as a share of the bill...
[The remainder (below) is just more guff, as you can see.]
...The row comes after Labour leader Ed Miliband pledged to freeze energy prices for 20 months if he wins power in 2015.
The Tories continue to dismiss the vow as a "gimmick" and insist it is not possible, given international fluctuations in wholesale prices.
Coalition ministers also stress that they have already taken action to simplify the system with fewer tariffs and make it easier to switch supplier.
But Mr Miliband used the SSE hike to justify his position, saying: "New electricity and gas price rises announced today show the need to freeze bills.
"We need an energy market which works for ordinary families and businesses."
Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint added: "Hard-pressed consumers are now paying the price for David Cameron's failure to stand up to the energy companies."
Labour has been forced to reframe its economic attacks around the cost-of-living as Britain's recovery continues to gather pace.
Energy prices have become the centre of the argument in recent weeks following Mr Miliband's surprise freeze pledge at his party conference.
Mr Cameron accused the party leader of wanting to live in a "Marxist universe" when the pair clashed about the move at PMQs on Wednesday.
Mr Miliband claimed the Prime Minister was ignoring a cost-of-living "crisis" and had chosen to back energy companies instead of consumers.
In an attempt to regain the initiative, the Government has announced action to stop large rail ticket price hikes.
It is expected to announce further measures to help families in the coming weeks.
:: A special edition of Jeff Randall Live on Sky News at 7pm tonight will be largely devoted to energy pricing."
N.B.
It would be wrong, in my view, to swallow all that is said about wholesale prices. Many, if not all, energy supply companies have employed the neat trick of separating themselves from their, 'wholly-owned' subsidiary, wholesale suppliers.
[It may be that it is the supply companies that are the 'wholly-owned' subsidiaries of their parent wholesale companies, not that this helps 'us' either way.]