LEGISLATION to cap gas and electricity bills for around 11 million households has been dismissed by Labour as a “temporary sticking plaster” that will do nothing to fix Britain’s broken energy market.

The Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill, introduced in Parliament today, would allow Ofgem to limit poor-value standard variable tariffs (SVTs) until 2020, with the option to extend the cap annually until 2023.

Households have been paying £1.4 billion a year more than needed through SVTs, a 2016 report from Competition and Markets Authority shows.

Announcing the Bill, Prime Minister Theresa May recognised that older people and those on low incomes are struggling on these tariffs.

The policy was initially floated by Ed Miliband in 2013, when he was Labour leader, but the Tories criticised it at the time.

Plans for a universal price cap were announced in the Conservative manifesto last year, but, after the general election, Ms May passed responsibility to Ofgem, which faced criticism for only coming up with proposals to protect the most vulnerable.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said that the legislation would “do little to comfort customers facing price hikes now after the government delayed this Bill by over a year.

“A price cap is simply a temporary sticking plaster and the government must realise that they need to do much more to fix our broken energy market.”

Citizens chief executive Advice Gillian Guy added: “It’s essential that protections from overcharging remain in place for vulnerable energy customers after the cap is lifted.”

The GMB union called for jobs in the energy sector to be protected and urged the government to “distinguish between profiteering and the resources needed to generate jobs and pay for the infrastructure needed to maintain our power networks.”

National secretary Justin Bowden added: “GMB has been saying for a long time that the idea of a competitive market in a natural monopoly is a massive contradiction in terms which we all end up paying for through our energy bills.

“If government really wants to make a change, then it would abolish Ofgem and make energy regulation subject to scrutiny and accountable to Parliament with the powers to cap prices if deemed necessary as part of this new legislation.”