A FURIOUS row has erupted between Selby's MP and a national energy supplier that has just announced inflation-busting price increases.

Selby MP John Grogan blasted npower in a Commons debate on fuel poverty, branding the company socially irresponsible and its chief executive "the Scrooge of the energy industry". But the firm has hit back, saying Mr Grogan had got his facts wrong.

The supplier has put gas prices up by an average of 17 per cent, with electricity bills going up by an average of 12 per cent.

The MP was speaking in an adjournment debate in the House of Commons.

He said: "Nothing is more miserable for an MP than meeting elderly people who cannot get out of bed because of the fear of getting cold during the day, and nothing is more depressing than meeting young people who cannot find a quiet, warm room in which to do their homework. Let us name and shame, even if Ofgem will not. Let us praise British Gas and EDF Energy for their social tariff schemes, and let us shame npower.

"David Threlfall, the npower retail chief executive, should really take a look at himself. Surely he does not want to be the coming year's Scrooge of the energy industry, as he was for the previous year.

"It is not good enough for npower to sponsor cricket and supply green energy to Wembley Stadium and to say that it is exercising corporate social responsibility.

"It must follow the other responsible energy companies that have introduced social tariffs."

But a spokesman for npower said the company did have a social tariff, guaranteeing its poorest customers the lowest prices.

"We recently committed an extra £4 million to help 50,000 of our most vulnerable customers," he said.

He said npower had also spent £150 million on helping its customers reduce their energy consumption and bills in the past three years.