Energy Costs in Wales

Debate between Alun Cairns and Beth Winter

Tuesday 11th October 2022 Westminster Hall

[Beth Winter (Cynon Valley) (Lab)]

Thank you for allowing me to speak, Mr Betts, and thank you to everyone present. As you explained, I came from a DLC as soon as possible, so diolch yn fawr. This issue is extremely close to my heart, which is why I really wanted to speak in the debate. In my constituency, we have been doing a lot of work on the cost of living crisis, which I will cover in my contribution.

With their intervention on the retail price for energy, the Government are clearly paying lip service to people’s concerns and failing to alleviate the misery they are causing. We have to be clear: the energy price cap is rising and bills are going up under the newly elected Prime Minister. Despite the Prime Minister and the Chancellor saying that they have intervened to reduce bills, what has really happened? Under the previous Tory Prime Minister, the price cap went up by £693 in April; under this new Conservative Prime Minister, it went up by another £529 last week. That is driving inflation to a 40-year high and creating extreme hardship in communities such as mine in the Cynon valley. Figures for Wales show that, in October 2020, 14% of households were living in fuel poverty. If we use those figures to model the impact of April’s price cap rise, up to 45%, or almost half, of all households are likely to be in fuel poverty.

I undertook a cost of living survey of constituents just before the summer. The stories they told me were truly harrowing, especially in terms of the mental health impact that the cost of living crisis is having, which cannot be overestimated. For example, one constituent said:

“It is affecting my sleep. I am worrying constantly. I keep watching my gas and electric meter.”

Most respondents said they were struggling to pay their energy bills, and almost three quarters said they would cut down significantly on heating in the next 12 months. That is unacceptable. That is a political choice.

As others have said, small businesses are struggling too. A local business owner told me recently that the combined gas and electric bill from the supplier was estimated to be in excess of £25,000. The owner was in floods of tears and had no idea how she was going to be able to continue running her business. That is the reality of the impact of the politically motivated cost of living crisis in this country.

[Alun Cairns]

The hon. Lady is making some interesting points about the real impact and cost for businesses, individuals and families, but I am not quite sure what she is asking for. Is she asking the Government to intervene for the entirety and to return the prices to what they were 12 months ago, say, bearing in mind that there is a global energy crisis as a result of the conflict in Ukraine?

[Beth Winter]

I am about to offer some solutions to the crisis. If the right hon. Gentleman can bear with me, I will answer his question in my speech.

Briefly, the Welsh Government are doing everything they can to support people through the cost of living crisis. They have made an array of announcements to support people, including a £200 fuel support payment, in addition to the winter fuel payment offered by the UK Government; a £150 cost of living payment; £4 million to support people on prepayment meters—not on mains gas—who are facing hardship; and of course the discretionary assistance fund. However, fair funding from the UK Government to Wales is needed to meet people’s needs; it is Westminster that has to step up and support our communities.

[Alun Cairns]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Beth Winter]

No, I will not give way. The Chancellor has not yet responded to Welsh Finance Minister Rebecca Evans’s recent letter asking for a meeting. That shows that Wales is being treated with contempt.

Labour at Westminster is clear that, unlike the Tories, we would not have allowed the energy price cap to rise at all this autumn. Labour has proposed a fully costed and funded package of Government support. Our “Warm Homes for All” plan and investment in sustainable British energy, funded from our climate investment pledge, will tackle the climate crisis, strengthen our energy security, create good jobs in new industries and cut bills for good. There will be up-front costs to those measures but, as the Office for Budget Responsibility has stated, not acting will cost far more in damage to the climate and economic security.

We have wind farms on the mountains in my constituency. Who owns them? A Swedish company, Vattenfall. We need our own energy sources. The Welsh Government’s proposal to develop a publicly owned energy company, Ynni Cymru, has been followed by UK Labour’s proposal for GB Energy, a British publicly owned company that will help generate the clean power that will cut bills and provide energy security for the UK. Those measures will start to challenge the private market, but we need public ownership now so that the power we produce contributes to our national community prosperity, not the pockets of private companies, fossil fuel giants and shareholders. It is affordable, as the Trades Union Congress has already set out. Energy costs must be brought down, and to achieve that, we must have public ownership, which is in the interests of the people of the UK and the future of our planet.