Good

Hence the reason for posting the link...

"They would also lose discounts for using energy at off-peak times, collecting loyalty points or low consumption rates."

Living costs for low income people/households are to do with low income more than high prices. We should tackle poverty and imbalances in society rather than think that the gas bill is the problem.
Two moral justice systems:

Difference Blind Liberalism
Rule and Exemption

We have tried the second one for way too long in our tax system and now it just a mess. Time to start again in my opinion.

There was some woman on the radio saying it was a success, even allowing for the poor uptake. Seems to me that maybe energy prices are not really much of a problem.

Well yes and no, as you say.
If we all had the same contract, the same unit price regardless of units used (though still allowing meter rental and usage banding) we could then tackle the root cause of the problem though other means (insulation, education, home generation etc). With our current system that favours the better off because they have the ability to change (if you live in a bedsit you cannot change your energy supplier usually), and are more likely to take a longer term view (as they have more control over their destiny and have the capacity to fit PV, insulation, condensing boiler) the poor will always be at a disadvantage. Help the poor get wealthier and have more control over their lives would benefit everyone, even the rich as the economy as a whole would grow. I did some work for a couple for Barristers many years ago, they complained that their Nanny earned 20k a year, but boasted that they had a decorator that worked cheap for cash. I suggested that they get the decorator to look after their 4 children. I bet both were in fuel poverty.

If energy was cheaper, then the poor would fritter their money on other things. This may sound irresponsible, but the very poor, for various reasons, are in the poverty trap and are unable to save/borrow enough to make any difference to their lot.
Let's say they can save 25%, or between a £5 and £10 a week, would they put that aside for loft insulation, no, they would buy a treat, and not even a good one for that sort of money (actually would probably pay of debt). I have no problem with people treating themselves, though I think their choices may be a bit strange (tacky colourful plastic toys for kids, iPods, 4 inches of extra Flatscreen, Blackberries ...).

Suppose what the aim is, is important. Is it to make poor people 2% better off (when they need to be at least 50% better off) or to reduce domestic energy use.

Increasing the price for everyone would certainly incentives the wealthier, though may be swapping energy use for low carbon energy use (a good thing), but not tackling the root cause of high energy use (a bad thing).

Posted By: SteamyTeaIf energy was cheaper, then the poor would fritter their money on other things.

That is a huge generalisation and I do not think is a valid argument. All the elderly that cannot afford to heat their house for instance? They fritter their money away do they? Increasing the price for everyone would hit them even harder.

Increasing the price of energy as folk use MORE (be they poor or rich) would help to equalise the right to *not* live in fuel poverty and that definition is not based on what you actually spend but as a proportion of your available income. It would also incentivise the wealthy to either cut down or invest in renewables. As it stands we are in the usual situation where the wealthy gain (excessive FITS) as they can afford to invest (and in many ways waste more energy) and the poor get poorer.

On a different but related note I was recently appalled when on a comparision site I noticed the:

'Only see products available through moneysupermarket.com?' box right at the bottom of the details page
- default selected as yes.

When I repeated my search but changing it to a 'no' the top 5 deals had changed (to better deals).

The default ticked box might as well read:
'Only show me more the expensive deals which pay commision to this price comparion website'