Sir Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband drop in on home of West Midlands mother-of-three - here's what happened

Mr Miliband and Sir Keir Starmer were in Staffordshire to chat with mother-of-three Nicola Saint about how the extra £150 a year would benefit her family.

From this winter onwards, all bill-payers in receipt of state benefits will receive the money off their energy bills.

Mr Miliband said school worker Miss Saint, 38, had previously been ineligible for the savings.

The Government also used the visit to announce it would be streamlining the complaints process so that customers could more easily access compensation when their energy companies failed to meet their obligations.

Mr Miliband said an extra 270,000 families across the West Midlands would be better off this winter as a result of the change.

He said it would be a major boost to people like Miss Saint, who 'were working hard'.

"It's always a struggle for everybody to make ends meet," he said. 

"It's going to make a real difference to her, she was excluded from the scheme before, even though she was getting Universal Credit. We've changed that. 

"That shows the Government is committed to doing absolutely everything we can to help families with the cost of living, which is the number one issue for people across the West Midlands and, indeed, the country.

Mr Miliband conceded times were still tough for many people who would not be eligible for the payment.

He said he also understood people's concerns that the tensions in the Middle East could lead to further rises in energy costs.

"The Prime Minister is doing what he can to de-escalate the situation, and it also reinforces the need for us to have our own home-grown sources of power in the volatile world we live in," he said.

"The best thing we can say is that what we've got to do is get off this roller-coaster of gas prices, which basically means we don't control our energy prices, we're controlled by petro-states and dictators from other countries.

"And that's why our mission for clean, homegrown power, renewable power like solar, wind nuclear, all of those things, that's why its so important to give that stability that we really need.

Miss Saint said she had been told on Tuesday that the Prime Minister and Energy Secretary would be visiting her at her terraced home in Riverside Drive, Rocester, near Uttoxeter.

"I think the extra saving will make a difference," she said. "I think of it as being an extra £30 a month for October, November, December, January and February, and I think that will notice that. 

"With gas and electricity prices going up, it is difficult."

The Government said it was making it easier for consumers to access compensation when their energy suppliers let them down.

It said that under the current system regulator Ofgem could only force suppliers to automatically pay compensation when things had gone wrong in a narrow set of circumstances.  

At the moment companies had eight weeks to respond to requests, and if they did not respond or the complaints went unresolved, the onus was on consumers themselves to refer the matter to the Ombudsman. 

"This produces a situation in which consumers often do not access the compensation they are entitled to due to time pressures or fatigue with a complex system," said a spokesman.

"These reforms will take the pressure off consumers and onto the companies to ensure that consumers get the compensation they deserve. Doing so will ensure energy consumers are better-protected and empowered to take action when necessary. "

Under the proposed reforms, customers would automatically be eligible for compensation for problems including excessively long call waiting times, unexpectedly high bills when suppliers failed to adjust direct debits, suppliers not responding to complaints, and suppliers not complying with Energy Ombudsman final decisions. 

The Ombudsman's powers would also be strengthened so that suppliers must comply with its final decision or pay compensation to the consumer, and the time before complaints could be escalated to the Ombudsman would be cut from eight to four weeks.  

Referrals to the Ombudsman would be automatic, rather than consumers having to do it themselves.