Chris Huhne defends doorstep selling in his response to Barry Gardiner

After almost a month Chris Huhne has finally replied to Barry Gardiner MP as he was asked to do by the Leader of the House of Commons. In his letter, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change defends companies such as E.ON, Scottish Power and RWE nPower, which have decided not to stop the unfair practice of selling energy contracts on the doortep.

E.ON, RWE nPower and Scottish Power remain the last three companies amongst Britain's largest six energy firms which do not intend to stop selling energy contracts on the doorstep. Cold sales have attracted widespread public criticism and the practice has been abandoned or put under review by EDF, British Gas - Centrica and Scottish and Southern Energy.

Barry Gardiner was the first MP to challenge the 'Big Six' to end doorstep selling in a heated exchange at a House of Commons Committee hearing and has since then campaigned to stop doorstep selling of energy contracts. He has written to the CEOs of each one of the Big Six, including a letter to the new CEO of E.ON.

During Business Questions in the House of Commons on the 8th of September Barry said: after months of campaigning, only two of the big six energy companies are still maintaining the practice of cold sales on the doorstep. Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate so that Parliament can put real pressure on E.ON UK and Scottish Power, which are being so recalcitrant over this important issue?

The Leader of the House, Sir George Young, replied: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising the profile of this issue. I will certainly see what action can be taken further to discourage the sort of cold-selling tactics that he has outlined, and I will ask my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to write to him.

In his letter, Chris Huhne defines doorstep selling as a "useful way" to inform consumers. He also states that the Government believes that doorstep selling "could be an important channel to help consumers to make better choices on new Government initiatives".

Barry Gardiner MP said: it's absolutely clear that both Cameron and Huhne were just bluffing when they said they were going to take on the energy companies at their party conferences. Chris Huhne's letter is a supine and feable justification of the unjustifiable. He is not fit to the be Secretary of State for Energy.

It now appears that RWE nPower is backtracking on the commitment it gave in its letter to Barry on the 1st of September 2011. There they said "there needs to be a transition from cold sales on the door step" but recent correspondence between the company and the Energy Select Committee suggests that they intend to continue the practice into the future.

Barry has written to them asking for an urgent clarification of their position and a final date by which they will stop doorstep selling for once and for all.

Here is a copy of Huhne's letter to Barry: