Most households in the West Midlands still get their electricity from the firm that bought the Midlands Electricity Board – making a mockery of hopes that privatisation would usher in a new era of competition.

Figures show that 65 per cent of properties in the West Midlands are supplied with electricity by Npower, the firm that bought the Midlands Electricity Board in 1999.

It means that households are still served by the old provider which once had a regional monopoly, even though it has gone through changes of ownership and name.

Privatisation of the energy market was supposed to give consumers a choice of providers, and force suppliers to compete on price and service quality in order to win business.

Labour published the figures as party leader Ed Miliband set out further plans to cut fuel bills, following the announcement that a Labour government would freeze prices for 20 months.

Power generation companies will be forced to offer the energy they generate to an open market which any supplier will be able to buy from.

At the moment, firms like Npower both generate electricity by operating power stations and sell electricity to customers. Labour says its reforms will make it easier for new suppliers to enter the market.

The Government is expected to set out its own plans for cutting fuel bills in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement next week, possibly including cuts to “green” taxes levied on bills.

But Downing Street last night dismissed reports that the Government had asked fuel firms to try to avoid another round of price rises.

Npower announced in October that it was putting up electricity tariffs by 9.3 per cent and gas by 11.1 per cent.

And this week it announced it was axing 1,430 jobs, including 400 in Oldbury, in the Black Country.