Oral Answers to Questions Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateAmanda Solloway
Main Page: Amanda Solloway (Conservative - Derby North)Department Debates - View all Amanda Solloway's debates with the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
(1 year, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberI have had several discussions with the Ofgem CEO and suppliers on businesses and hospitality businesses on high fixed contracts. I am sympathetic to those businesses, but it is a commercial matter.
The Royal Oak in Isleworth is a popular family-run pub. Last autumn it had to sign a fixed-term contract at the highest rates. When I raised this issue in March, just before the end of the energy support scheme, the Minister told me that the Government had met energy suppliers, as the Minister has just confirmed. What else are the Government doing to make sure that no more pubs or other successful and thriving small businesses go under because of crippling energy costs?
This Government have been incredibly helpful to all businesses, particularly the hospitality sector. As I mentioned, I am sympathetic to those businesses, but this is a commercial matter. Let me reassure the hon. Lady that I have met stakeholders and suppliers. Today I have written to them again to reiterate that they must be mindful of fixed-term contracts.
No hotel, pub or guesthouse can do its job without the support of the laundry sector, which is feeling the pain of high energy bills, often fixed at the wrong time. I hear what the Minister says about the commercial element, but will she arrange a meeting with the energy efficiency unit and the laundry sector to see what can be done to reduce demand and get better deals from energy suppliers?
I thank my hon. Friend for that question. Of course, I am always delighted to organise those meetings.
The energy bill discount scheme will continue to provide a discount to eligible non-domestic customers, including those on fixed-term contracts. I met energy suppliers in March to reiterate my expectation that they must do all they can to support businesses on the highest-priced contracts.
The Federation of Small Businesses has found that more than one in 10 small firms fixed their energy prices during the market peak last year, meaning that now 93,000 small businesses across these islands could be forced to downsize, restructure or close their doors altogether. Will the Minister support the FSB’s calls for action on this? It is unacceptable that businesses in Glasgow Central and beyond have been marooned on devastatingly high energy contracts.
One of the things this Government are committed to do is helping small businesses. Both the Secretary of State and I have met the FSB to discuss this matter and to ensure that we are doing the best thing that we can for those on fixed-term contracts.
That was rather a non-answer. Since the downgrading of the energy bill relief scheme to the mair austere energy bill discount scheme, firms, many of them in my constituency, are paying three to four times the amount they were for energy under the previous scheme. If the Minister does not believe the figures she has just heard from the FSB, how many firms does she think will go to the wall as a result of these higher energy costs?
This Government remain committed to supporting all small and medium businesses, and the whole business sector. We did the relief scheme and we now have the discount scheme as well. We are also implementing a high energy-intensive scheme. Both the Secretary of State and I are urging suppliers to have a look at these fixed rates and making sure that we can find a reasonable way forward.
In 2022 there were an estimated 3.26 million households—13.4%—in fuel poverty in England. The Government recognise how difficult the increase in fuel bills, caused by Putin’s war in Ukraine, has been for households across the country.
Recent figures show that energy companies such as Shell make £61,000 a minute. Meanwhile, there are families—13,255 families in Luton—living in fuel poverty. I also have pensioners in Luton suffering from chronic health conditions who are risking their health because they cannot afford to put on the heating. The Minister could take action on fuel prices by extending the windfall tax and closing loopholes, so why has she not done so? We do not want any more flim-flam answers. The public are not buying it, the people in Luton North are not buying it, and I am not buying it.
The Government have applied a levy on these energy companies, but the really important thing is the work that we have been doing with those households. We have been giving a lot of support and ensuring that we do the very best for all of those people. In addition, on Thursday 31 May we are launching our “Claim your energy voucher” day, and it is really important that all those on prepayment meters do claim their vouchers.
The Minister just mentioned the work that the Government have been doing, but the Environmental Audit Committee, in its report in January, criticised the Government’s energy efficiency target as “vague” and “unspecific”, saying that they had a poor record on energy efficiency. Meanwhile, 16.6% of households in Blackburn are in fuel poverty. Is the truth not that the pace of energy efficiency under this Government is too slow, and it is driving even more families into fuel poverty?
Just to reiterate, we have taken decisive action to protect customers this winter. We have paid around half a typical household’s energy bill. There are also multiple schemes in place targeted at the most in need, including the social housing decarbonisation fund, the home upgrade grant and the energy company obligation scheme.
I thank the hon. Gentleman for bringing the matter to our attention. I would be very happy to meet him to discuss it.
I thank the hon. Lady for the meeting we had to discuss the matter, which we are looking into. We must recognise that it is the suppliers and consumers who have entered into a contract. However, my strongest encouragement to suppliers is that they do all they can, and blend and extend is certainly one of the ways we can help on that.
The arrangements that we have for prepayment meters are incredibly important, and we are working closely with Ofgem to ensure that we tackle this issue. As always, I am happy to meet to discuss these issues.
Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda are charging more for road fuel in my constituency than they are in neighbouring towns. Can my right hon. Friend explain what he is doing to help my hard-working constituents secure cheaper fuel?
I thank my right hon. Friend for that invite, and I would be delighted to go if some of the product was on offer. We are constantly looking at the help we can give. We are giving help across all industries. We are giving universal help through the discount, and we are helping energy and trade intensive industries as well. The classification exists to ensure that we do not have a bias.
At the moment, many people receive their domestic energy on a commercial contract, either via a landlord or because they live above a shop. This Government put in protections to support them, but they have now been lifted, and those people are of course ineligible for the Ofgem energy price cap. Will the Government review this situation to ensure those residential customers are treated with the residential protections they deserve?
This Government have a commitment to ensure that everybody is treated fairly, especially when it comes to the discounts and relief schemes. We have legislated to make sure that landlords pass on the payments they receive; if they do not, there is a way of redressing that by going through gov.uk.
ChargePoint, one of the largest UK charging networks, worries that the Government’s local EV infrastructure fund will replicate the mistakes of the past, where electric charge points were put into lamp posts and bollards where people with non-electric vehicles park, therefore losing valuable electric charging. Will the Government ensure that the LEVI fund is targeted at local authority assets such as swimming pools and libraries, where people will often go, therefore increasing EV charging capacity?
Some 13,450 energy bills support scheme vouchers have gone unclaimed in my constituency. Given the delays that many of my constituents have experienced in obtaining those vouchers and arguing the case with their energy companies, will the Minister push back the date by which they have to be redeemed, which is currently 30 June?
The hon. Member makes an incredibly important point, and gives me the opportunity to make plain that we must make sure all those vouchers are cashed in by 30 June. I encourage every single Member in this place to make sure that their constituents who are on prepayment meters and have not cashed in those vouchers do so.