Labour 's flagship energy price freeze was in further chaos last night as Ed Miliband was forced to re-launch it as a drive to cut fuel costs . His pledge to freeze bills for 20 months was left in turmoil earlier this year by tumbling wholesale prices . Today , the Labour leader will announce that he would pass a law to force the regulator Ofgem to push prices down by up to £100 this winter . Scroll down for video . Ed Miliband has been forced to clarify his energy policy after tumbling wholesale prices demolished the concept of a price freeze , and now he says he will force suppliers to drop bills by £100 this winter . But critics pointed out that when he announced the price freeze , in a blaze of publicity in 2013 , he called for Ofgem to be abolished . His officials are now drafting legislation to allow Ofgem to ‘ put an immediate end to the overcharging by the Big Six energy firms ’ which costs families and business around £2.5billion a year . Labour was forced to ‘ rebrand ’ the proposed freeze as a price cap when power companies started reducing household fuel bills earlier this year in response to falling wholesale costs . The party had to issue a ‘ clarification ’ that they would also allow household energy bills to fall and they would not be frozen at a higher level than necessary . Mr Miliband had been criticised for intervening in the market and the industry warned it would put investment in jeopardy . The Conservatives have pointed out that if energy prices had been frozen when Mr Miliband announced the policy , it would have meant families paying bills £100 higher than necessary today . If Miliband had frozen gas prices when he announced his policy back in 2013 , households would now be paying £100 more than necessary after falling wholesale prices drove down bills . Opponents of Mr Miliband say this mistake reveals the danger of meddling in a free market , and warn that any further intervention could risk investment and jobs . Last night energy minister Matt Hancock said : ‘ This is now the sixth version of a chaotic Labour energy policy that would have put up families ’ bills by £100 and could do the same again – their record at setting prices has been a disaster . ‘ And only Ed Miliband could propose giving a new power to a regulator he plans to scrap . This incompetence is exactly why Ed Miliband isn ’ t up to the job . Hardworking taxpayers would pay the price with higher bills. ’ Mr Miliband will say today that in one of his first bills of the next Parliament , he would give Ofgem ‘ a legal duty to review prices by the autumn – and the power to order price reductions in time for the winter ’ . He will accuse the Conservatives of failing to stand up to ‘ vested interests ’ . ‘ We live in a country where you can ’ t fulfil one of the foundations of family life – keeping your home warm – without being overcharged by one of the big energy firms ’ , he will say . ‘ It ’ s been 18 months since I announced the next Labour government would freeze energy bills – so they can only go down and not up – until 2017 while we reset this broken market. ’ Labour says prices are tumbling ‘ not because of anything the Government or the Big Six energy firms have done , but because of global changes in oil and gas supply ’ . Labour is set to hand the key marginal seat of Halifax to Karie Murphy , who was at the centre of the Falkirk vote-rigging row . The party suspended her in 2013 over allegations the Unite union tried to manipulate the selection process in her favour . She was later cleared .
Miliband had promised to freeze gas and electricity bills back in 2013 . Falling prices mean freeze would have made households £100 worse off . Now says he will get Conservatives to force energy companies to drop prices . However opponents point out that he promised to scrap the regulator .