Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what data his Department holds on the average timescales energy consumers wait for the repayment of debt owed to them by failed energy suppliers, in particular when payments have been made to energy suppliers through standing orders.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department does not hold this data. The Supplier of Last Resort process, which can by triggered by an energy supplier exiting the market, is managed by Ofgem.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether energy firms are required to carry out equality impact assessments before forcibly installing prepayment meters.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Equality impact assessments are generally required when a new or revised policy or practice is being considered. The installation of prepayment meters is a long-standing practice dating back several decades and undertaken by privately-owned supply businesses. However, suppliers are required by Ofgem to assess whether installing a prepayment meter, including force-fitting one on customers in arrears as a last resort, is safe and practicable for the customer. This assessment should include identifying any vulnerability.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Eltham of 17 January, Official Report column 161 when he plans to send a letter to Ofgem on forcible installations of prepayment energy meters.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The letter will be sent, and published, once advice on this matter has been fully considered.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he will respond to the correspondence of 14 November 2022 from the hon. Member for Glasgow North East.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
My noble Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Corporate Responsibility, Lord Callanan, wrote to the hon. Member on 11 January about Green Deal mis-selling.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether specific financial support for people in off gas grid homes will be available in 2023/24.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government monitors prices and will consider further intervention if required to protect UK households from extraordinary fuel prices.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether additional support payments for those living off gas grid will be available to those (a) on Economy 7 tariffs and (b) using electric only heating systems.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Households that are on economy 7 tariffs and use electric only heating systems are eligible for the electricity component of the Energy Price Guarantee.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December to Question 102949 on Energy: Meters, how many warrants have been issued to move non-smart meter energy customers to pre-payment meters in the UK since 1 January 2022.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Ofgem does not hold this data for 2022 yet. The Government expects to receive the data in Q1 2023.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many warrants have been issued to move non-smart meter energy customers to pre-payment meters in (i) the UK (ii) each constituency in 2022.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Neither the Government nor Ofgem, the independent regulator, collect this data at the constituency level.
Ofgem's latest data shows that the number of warrants exercised in Great Britain to install a pre-payment meter was 49,552 in 2021. Ofgem does not collect data on this in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to introduce legislation which requires park home owners in receipt of energy support to pass on savings to residents of those parks.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide an energy price reduction for eligible non-domestic customers, including park home owners, over the winter. Regulations covering pass-through requirements came into force on 1 November (GB) and 5 November (NI), requiring any park site owner to pass these reductions on to park residents in a just and reasonable way.
In addition, Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) Alternative Funding will provide a £400 discount on energy bills for the small percentage of households who are not reached through the main EBSS fund, such as park home residents. The Government will announce more details shortly.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when annual prepayment meter electricity statistics for (a) local authorities, (b) Lower Layer Super Output Areas, (c) Middle Layer Super Output Areas and (d) postcodes in (i) England, (ii) Wales and (iii) Scotland will be updated.
Answered by Graham Stuart
BEIS produced a one-off publication of annual prepayment meter electricity statistics in March 2019 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electric-prepayment-meter-statistics). There are no current plans to update this publication.