LAST week the Energy Secretary Ed Davey said we need to avoid ‘yo-yo’ energy prices, which go up and down.

I don’t know about him, but I think many people across Inverclyde would be happy if they were lucky enough to see their energy bills go down.

Gas and electricity prices have fallen 20 per cent and nine per cent respectively in the last year – but we are still waiting for bills to fall.

Britain is facing an energy bills crisis as fuel poverty rises. If the current weather in Inverclyde is anything to go by, costs can skyrocket at this time of the year, meaning a warm house can be a luxury.

The numbers speak for themselves: the average household’s energy bill is now £260 higher compared with 2010. To make matters worse, the poorest 10 per cent of households have seen their energy bills rise nearly twice as fast as other households.

This would be bad enough if it weren’t for the fact the wholesale cost of energy is falling. Energy companies never seem to pass on the savings, and customers are left hard pressed to deal with spiralling costs.

Last week I took part in a debate to force the government to accept Labour’s plan to end rip off energy prices.

Yet again, the coalition government revealed themselves to be out of touch by completely disregarding the experiences of those struggling to pay their bills.

The government only last week accepted the market is broken – but they refuse to take action.

That’s why Labour again proposed our motion to freeze energy bills until 2017, allowing bills still to go down but not up, and give the regulator proper powers to force energy companies to lower energy bills immediately when wholesale costs go down.

Unfortunately the government voted against our motion and again sided with big business over hard working people, although there was a partial support from SNP which is a step in the right direction after opposing the same motion last year.

But a future Labour government is committed to this policy, which will save the average household £120.

While fixing the energy market is part of the solution, there is also a need to change our habits to keep bills down in the future.

During the debate I drew attention to the excellent work of i.HEAT, a local initiative that advises homeowners how to improve energy efficiency and find the best energy deals.

They have managed to save people in Inverclyde almost £1 million, a sum that shows how much the simple step of effectively insulating a home can save.

However, I am still often surprised at the poor quality of insulation which affects many newly built houses. If we want to keep bills low in the future, we need to ensure future generations of homes are fully energy efficient.

By fixing Britain’s broken energy market and building energy efficient homes, Labour will make sure that people no longer have to choose between putting food on their table or heating their home.