ED MILIBAND likened the energy companies to the banks as he weathered a backlash to his shock price freeze proposals.

Mr Miliband has written to the "big six" companies warning that they would face a consumer backlash if they fought his plans for a 20-month freeze following the next general election in May 2015.

His surprise announcement at the Labour conference in Brighton was greeted with horror by energy suppliers, with predictions that firms deprived of the power to set their own prices would be in danger of "economic ruin".

Labour says the freeze will save the typical household £120 and an average business £1800 between May 2015 and January 2017, at a cost to industry of £4.5 billion.

Mr Miliband said Labour would support David Cameron if the Prime Minister implemented an immediate freeze.

Mr Miliband dismissed as "scare stories" the energy firms' warnings that a price freeze would result in power cuts as investment in new power stations was cut.

He said: "It makes me think of the banks. The banks used to threaten, conjure up scare stories, talk about the impact of regulation, and the Conservative Party supported them, and actually we should have had tougher regulation. So it makes me think that actually we've got to do the right thing by the country, and that's what I'm going to do.

"Threats, scare stories, that's not the way we should make policy, we should make policy in the national interest, the interest of the British public and that's what I'm going to do."

Ed Miliband has said he would not tolerate energy companies "colluding" to raise prices before the next General Election to offset the financial impact of his freeze on gas and electricity prices

The Labour leader said he believed the energy market to be "exceptional" because of flaws in the way regulation had worked since privatisation, and indicated he was not planning similar action in other sectors dominated by a few suppliers, such as mobile phones and broadband.

As the conference ended, deputy leader Harriet Harman told delegates: "The general election is there for the taking. While we are in no doubt about the scale of our task, we all leave here determined to do whatever it takes to kick out this miserable coalition and fight for a Labour government."

After a week in which Mr ­Miliband unveiled plans for a hike in corporation tax, compulsory purchase of land being hoarded by developers and new requirements for employers to take on apprentices, Conservatives said he had revealed himself to be "Red Ed".

CBI director-general John ­Cridland said the conference delivered "a setback for Labour's pro-enterprise credentials".

He said: "I think business as a whole will say 'we look to the Labour Party to speak for all business, not to beat us up and then say it's speaking for small business, not large business'. Speak for all business, Ed, and do it in a way which takes businesses with you.

"Government is there to set minimum standards. You begin interfering in price and property and wages, as well as in tax, and you put business taxes up, how do you expect that to have a positive impact on wealth creation, job creation and more jobs on the high street?"

But Mr Miliband said that the action on energy prices was at the heart of the message about the "cost of living crisis" that he will take into the 2015 election.

He said: "What you've seen from Labour this week is a party standing up for ordinary families, not for the privileged few."