Off-gas Grid Households

Alan Reid Excerpts

Tuesday 16th April 2013 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton) on raising this matter, which is very important to my constituents in Northern Ireland. The hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Roger Williams) referred to the fact that Northern Ireland has even fewer people on the gas grid, and that is true. It is only in the last few years that many of our constituents have been offered the opportunity to get on the gas grid. Indeed, it was only some 10 or 12 years ago that Newtownards first went on the grid, and that is a major town; it is not even a rural area.

I want to make a few quick comments, because I am conscious of the time. Some 42% of rural households are not connected to mains gas, compared with 8% in urban areas. The hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth and a couple of other hon. Members referred to the unfairness of the situation. The cost of fuel and the number of fuel suppliers play a particularly important role in the countryside. Rural households rely on oil and LPG more heavily to heat their homes, so we clearly have an unfairness and imbalance in supply not just in Northern Ireland, but across the whole United Kingdom—Scotland and Wales and elsewhere. We are probably all aware that some 10% of costs in the home go towards heating. In December 2012, prices were 14% higher than in 2011 and 20% higher than last summer.

In the past year, I have been contacted by many pensioners, because they are the people in the greatest need and who have the greatest difficulties in paying their heating bills. They say they can no longer fill their oil tanks. Some petrol stations say that buying a five gallon drum is cheaper, but it is not; it is dearer. Pensioners in my constituency, in both rural and urban areas, say that the only way that they can address their heating problems is by wearing extra clothes. It would be interesting to find out how many people have died as a result of the cold this winter. I think that the numbers will be quite horrific, but I do not have definite evidence. None the less, I am certainly aware of a great many people of a certain age dying because of the cold.

[Mr Alan Reid (Argyll and Bute) (LD)]

The hon. Gentleman is quite right to talk about the problems caused by the high price of heating oil and LPG. Does he share the concerns expressed by the APPG that the OFT study was inadequate? For example, it said that almost all the highlands and islands had between four and seven suppliers, which is obviously nonsense. Does he think that it was over-optimistic about the number of suppliers, that the market is not working properly and that the OFT study should be carried out again?

[Jim Shannon]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, and yes I do agree with that. Quite clearly, the figures mentioned were not true, and that applies to many other parts in the United Kingdom as well.

This past winter, pensioners living in rural constituencies have experienced extreme weather conditions and have been unable to provide heating in their homes. The Government must consider introducing a system in which, in extreme conditions, extra payments are made to pensioners.

I will make one other comment, to take matters to a different level. In introducing the debate, the hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth did not refer to this issue, but it is perhaps important that we refer to it. In addressing rural fuel poverty, there needs to be recognition of and support for the role that British farmers and land managers can play in exploiting the huge potential offered by our agriculture to provide renewable energy resources. The Countryside Alliance has long called in its rural manifesto for

“the potential of farming and its by-products as a significant and often existing source of renewable energy to be harnessed not only as a way of mitigating climate change but also of increasing our energy mix and therefore our energy security.”

Cows produce something in great quantities that could be used to provide energy. Why are we not using it in some rural areas? There are ways of using it that the Government must consider fully; it is time that they did so.

In conclusion, there are many methods of addressing the off-grid gas issue; the hon. Member for Angus, who spoke earlier, referred to one method. We cannot provide gas everywhere, but we have to try to provide it in lots of places. I would like gas to be provided in some areas of my constituency where I have been pushing for it to be provided. I would like to see it provided in Ballynahinch; Saintfield in Ballygowan; and in the villages of the Ards peninsula, such as Donaghadee, Millisle, Ballywalter, Greyabbey and Portavogie. Those are areas where gas should be made available, and it is quite possible to do so. There are small groups in all those rural areas that could justify the expense involved, and that process could be replicated in other parts of the United Kingdom.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth on bringing this matter forward; this has been a very important debate at a very important time.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Alan Reid (Argyll and Bute) (LD)]

Thank you very much, Mr Crausby, for calling me to speak. I shall be very brief.

I am secretary of the all-party group on the off-gas grid and I thank everyone who contributed to the group’s report on the issue. I also congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton) on securing the debate. I spoke in an intervention about the inadequacies of the OFT report. It is ludicrous to say that almost the entire highlands and islands area has between four and seven suppliers. It is clearly a market that is not working. I hope that the OFT will conduct that study again. I also hope that the Government will take on board the illogicality of the gas grid and the off-gas grid being dealt with by different regulators. Both should be regulated by Ofgem. I hope that the Government will put that reform in place.