Cost of Heating Oil
Alex Brewer Excerpts(2 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Steff Aquarone
Again, I agree, for reasons I will come on to. I will just note that the ministerial meeting for Members early on in this crisis, which was very welcome, featured a really interesting profile of Members from across the House. Rural and coastal Members often find themselves together, and Northern Ireland Members such as the hon. Gentleman were well represented at the meeting.
As I said, since the outbreak of war, the price of heating oil for my constituents has skyrocketed far beyond the gradual increases they suffer due to the usual inflationary pressures. This was a near-overnight shock that saw people having to scramble to find hundreds of pounds in already stretched household budgets. I want to share just a few of the experiences I have heard from my constituents.
Roy in Roughton has paid £1,400 to fill his tank, which usually costs him £800. Eric in Salthouse paid 55p a litre in January, but was quoted £1.34 a litre in March. Wendy in Hindringham told me that she had been quoted £720 for 500 litres of oil—double what she paid in October. She says:
“We just don’t have that sort of money.”
Alex Brewer (North East Hampshire) (LD)
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. As the representative for North East Hampshire, I know all too well the premium that many rural households face when it comes to bills and expenses. Rural households already have a really heavy burden, as he has outlined, including higher rates of fuel poverty, lower energy efficiency and a fuel poverty gap of £987 against their urban counterparts. More than 5,000 households in my constituency rely on heating oil. Does he agree that the Government have a responsibility to act, probably through a price cap, which would ensure that rural households are not penalised simply for where they live?
Steff Aquarone
I wholeheartedly agree, which is why I was so glad to be granted this debate, and I am sure other Members share that view. There is a long-term discussion to be had about Government action on retrofitting and reducing the fuel poverty gap, but right now the urgent issue is the price today.
I was pleased to see progress on some of these concerns in North Norfolk. Local heating oil delivery company Goff agreed to honour the prices it had agreed before the global price increases, which meant that many of my constituents were protected. But as welcome as that is, we cannot just rely on the good will of companies to regulate their own market. It has been left as a wild west for too long, without any strong regulations or protections to keep my constituents safe from unaffordable price spikes. While we rightly discuss a great deal the rises in the cost of energy, many who rely on heating oil will look enviously at the energy price cap, which at least puts a strong ceiling on what will be paid. For them, there are no guarantees of where the price rises will stop.
Another key issue is the minimum order requirements for heating oil. It is not like filling up a car, where if the prices look bad, we might just stick in £20-worth and hope it gets us to the end of the week. For most, the minimum order of heating oil is 500 litres. If someone runs out during the peak of a price spike, that means a minimum outlay of more than £500, or no heating or hot water.
Oral Answers to Questions
Alex Brewer Excerpts(9 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Michael Shanks
My hon. Friend makes a point that others have raised. We are looking in granular detail at how the system works to ensure that the regulatory landscape allows such opportunities to be taken. I am very happy to meet him to discuss this further. We are taking a detailed look at every single aspect of the system, so that communities, businesses and others can benefit from being able to export power to the grid. That will help the country with its energy needs and deliver a benefit for local communities.
Alex Brewer (North East Hampshire) (LD)
Mrs Elsie Blundell (Heywood and Middleton North) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Miatta Fahnbulleh)
We believe that the best way to protect households permanently is through our mission to deliver clean power by 2030. Combined with our warm homes plan to upgrade millions of homes across the country so that they are warmer and cheaper to run, that will drive down energy bills and make cold homes a thing of the past. We know that we need to support people while we make that transition, which is why we are extending the warm home discount.
Alex Brewer
Almost 10% of people in my North East Hampshire constituency live in fuel poverty. I agree with the Minister that investing in renewable energy would help to tackle that, so how is she working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to empower local authorities to develop renewable energy generation locally—by following Europe’s lead in putting solar over car parks, for example—in order to make energy cheaper and more sustainable?
Miatta Fahnbulleh
The hon. Member is right: there is a big push to work with local and regional authorities to ensure not only that we generate renewables that can impact on bills, but that we upgrade homes. Through local energy action plans, local authorities are, for the first time, working with the National Energy System Operator and other systems operators to drive that. Local and regional authorities have a crucial role to play in upgrading millions of homes across the country.
Oral Answers to Questions
Alex Brewer Excerpts(10 months, 3 weeks ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Miatta Fahnbulleh)
We have had challenges with heat networks across the country. That is why we are bringing forward regulations to make sure both that there is a fair price for people on heat networks and that technical standards drive up the quality of heat networks, so that people can have cheaper bills.
Alex Brewer (North East Hampshire) (LD)
Ed Miliband
The hon. Lady raises a really important point about the level of standing order charges, and this is something that Ofgem has consulted on. The complexity is that if we redistribute standing order charges, it can have significant adverse distributional effects, but Ofgem is seeking to have low standing order charges for some customers.