Fuel Poverty

Debate between Baroness Lister of Burtersett and Lord Marland

Thursday 16th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Marland]

It is very good to see the noble Lord in his place. Of course, his position on this is very well recognised, having been what I was brought up to know as “King Coal”. I am grateful that he should ask such important questions.

Clearly, since 2005, fuel poverty in the UK has gone up from 2.5 million homes to 5 million now. This is a very serious problem with which all of us wish to grapple, particularly in these times of economic difficulty. The Government are committed to that. I do not want to pre-judge Professor Hills’ report, but we initiated it and we look forward to it.

On the noble Lord’s second point, of course we are committed to reducing fuel poverty to nothing. In an ideal world, we would be doing it now. We have reworked the definition, which I think is fundamental. However, until we get the report we will not be able to comment much further on that.

[Baroness Lister of Burtersett]

My Lords, what is the Government’s response to the “End the Big 6 Energy Fix” campaign launched last week by Compass—I declare an interest as the chair of its management committee—and the Independent for a ring-fenced levy on the big six energy companies that could be used to tackle fuel poverty through making homes more energy efficient?

[Lord Marland]

It is difficult to attack the big six. EDF, which announced its results today, makes no margin at all on delivering domestic supply to homes. We must be very careful when we attack these companies, which are genuinely trying to supply and are, of course, struggling with major increases in global oil and gas prices outside their control.

Of course, the Government have a load of initiatives for improving things. Reducing demand at home is absolutely fundamental, as the noble Baroness will know better than I do. The Green Deal will be fundamental to that. These various initiatives will try to protect the consumer. Believe you me, the consumer is at the heart of all our policy-making and, at this time, needs to be.