Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 6th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

My hon. Friend is right. We do not want to see carbon leakage; that would not help the climate, and it would not help our economy. That is why I agreed with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills a very generous package, working with the Chancellor, to compensate energy-intensive industries for the indirect costs of the ETS and the carbon price floor, and it is also why we have exempted energy-intensive industries from the costs of contracts for difference. We want to ensure we make progress on climate change, but we also want to ensure we keep successful businesses in the United Kingdom.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

2. What steps he is taking to help households with their energy bills.

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)]

This coalition Government are determined to help hard-working families with the cost of living. We have a range of initiatives to help with energy bills. From the Prime Minister’s proposals to get consumers on to the cheapest energy tariffs to our flagship green deal, and from the warm home discount to our promotion of collective switching and building a more competitive energy market, this Government are putting the consumer first.

[Andrew Gwynne]

The Minister must be aware that the respected think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research has produced a report that shows that if the energy market were more competitive, bills could be reduced by at least £70 from efficiency savings alone, so why will he not get behind Labour’s plans to break the dominance of the big six by ensuring that they supply energy into a pool to enable more businesses to access the market and to bring down bills for customers?

[Gregory Barker]

The hon. Gentleman will forgive us if we do not take lessons on how to widen the big six from the party that created the big six. When Labour came to office there were 14 major participants in the energy sector; when they left office, the number had shrunk to six. We believe our radical energy market reforms that are going through the House are the way to bring in real competition.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

The Secretary of State does not have to compete with Back Benchers. There is no obligation for the answer to be as long as the question.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Earlier, the Minister mentioned that the Government’s policies would result in energy bills being about 7% lower, but is that not correct only if people go out and buy new energy-efficient TVs, washing machines, dishwashers and combi gas boilers, and that if people do not their bills will actually be higher under this Government?

[Mr Davey]

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is wrong. The methodology of the bills and prices report includes examining how often average households replace these types of goods—it is statistically robust.