Millions to see energy bills fall after David Cameron promises tariff reform The point is, in practice this market is not operating for everyone. A small minority of people are actually switching deals, therefore we need to push some of this responsibility on to the energy companies. Mr Cameron's announcement came ahead of crisis talks with Nick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister, and George Osborne, the Chancellor, on how to bring down energy bills. However, the new policy appeared to take energy companies, consumer groups, the regulator and even the Department of Energy and Climate Change by surprise. USwitch, the consumer website, was the first to raise concerns that it could backfire for households by causing energy companies to withdraw their cheapest tariffs. Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch said she thought the announcement had been a "mistake." "The unintended consequences would be to kill competition," she said. Consumers will be left with Hobson's choice - there will be no spur, no choice, no innovation and no reason for consumers to engage any more. There are already fears that reforms due to be unveiled by Ofgem on Friday will force energy companies to scrap discounts worth more than £100 per household. Meanwhile, senior energy executives were last night privately furious that the Prime Minister had announced a major policy change with few details on how it might affect their businesses. Angela Knight, chief executive of Energy UK, representing the Big Six companies, said the industry "needs to understand the detail of what's being proposed by the Prime Minister and how this might impact our members" customers across the country." She said energy companies have "already reduced the complexity of their offers." The new laws risk further antagonising the energy industry, which is already concerned about mixed messages from the Coalition over the green agenda. Neil Bentley, the director-general of the CBI, will today call in a speech for the Government to engage in "less politics, more policy" before it is too late to persuade companies to invest billions in new power stations. "There is no business case for putting billions of pounds into these long-lived assets if investors cannot see a long-term, stable policy framework," he will say. Right now, the policy future looks too much like a blank canvas. Last month, seven power companies to threaten to withdraw from the UK because they cannot be certain of getting Government support for nuclear power and wind farms. They have been concerned by a bitter Coalition split between Mr Osborne, who is championing gas power, and Ed Davey, the Energy Secretary, who wants to protect subsidies for wind farms. Whitehall sources said talks are underway to "get everyone back on the same page," as the Prime Minister is adamant that championing green industries will help the economy grow. As part of this drive for "green growth," ministers will today unveil changes to the planning laws aimed at attracting investment in billions of pounds of new energy infrastructure. The change means companies will be able to make changes to their designs to incorporate recent technology without applying for new planning permission all over again.