DECC Urged Energy Firms To Echo Brexit Alarm

The Energy Secretary has risked igniting a fresh Brexit row after it emerged that her department had urged electricity suppliers to echo her warning that leaving the European Union could cost consumers £500m a year.

Sky News has learnt that officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) contacted the largest energy suppliers in the wake of a speech by Amber Rudd last week in which she said that Brexit would cause a "massive electric shock".

An email from DECC officials urged the companies to communicate whether they would be prepared to support the message from Ms Rudd.

Although there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of DECC officials, whose actions reflected the official position of the Government, pro-Brexit campaigners were alarmed that private sector employers were being asked to endorse ministerial speeches.

The move is likely to stoke tensions within DECC, where ministers such as Andrea Leadsom have declared their support for the 'Out' campaign.

Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of Vote Leave, told Sky News: "Amber Rudd's speech was widely derided so no wonder she was trying to strong-arm big corporates into sticking up for her.

"The fact that only SSE (LSE: SSE.L - news) spoke out after her demands shows just how little support there is for her attempts to talk Britain down."

A DECC spokesman said it was common practice for it - and other organisations in the public and private sectors - to talk to "stakeholders on a daily basis".

“Our priority is ensuring the supply of secure, affordable and clean energy – and our stakeholders are often better placed to reach people with the information they need on this than Government departments based in central London.”

In her speech last week, Ms Rudd warned that leaving the EU would mean the UK's energy security risked being "hijacked".

"If we left Europe’s internal energy market, we’d get a massive electric shock because the UK energy costs are likely to rocket by at least half a billion pounds a year – the equivalent of British bills going up by around one and a half million pounds each and every day," she said.