Forget wicked stepmothers, ugly sisters, and even bank bosses. The heads of Britain’s energy companies are rapidly becoming the new villains for today’s hard-pressed consumers. Ed Miliband’s promise in September to freeze energy prices for 20 months if Labour comes to power in the next election resonated across the country – and put the Conservatives on the back foot. Where your money goes Former prime minister Sir John Major’s suggestion this week of a windfall tax on energy companies kept the pressure on the coalition government. The rising cost of electricity and gas has now become a key battleground ahead of the next election, expected in 2015. Mr Miliband’s promise struck a chord with the public precisely because its trust in whether energy companies provide a fair deal has fallen with each increase in domestic tariffs. Too often, bills appear to jump quickly when wholesale prices rise, but only […]