Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the application portal will open for the extension to the Energy Bills Support Scheme for people living in park homes.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The application portal for the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding is scheduled to open by 27 February. In addition to this portal, a dedicated customer helpline will be available to assist customers who do not have online access with further details to be released in February.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of park home households who are eligible for grant support under the ECO4 scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Company Obligation scheme (covering Great Britain) has been one of the Government’s key domestic energy efficiency policies, improving 2.4 million homes since it began in 2013. The Government estimates that under ECO4, around 800,000 measures may be installed in around 450,000 households, including 155,000 households with EPC ratings of E, F or G by March 2026. While park home households are within the scope of ECO4, the Government does not hold estimates of how many are eligible for support under the scheme.
Under ECO4, which began in April 2022, 1 park home household had been in receipt of energy efficiency measures by the end of September 2022.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many park home households have received grant support for energy efficiency installations under the ECO4 scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Company Obligation scheme (covering Great Britain) has been one of the Government’s key domestic energy efficiency policies, improving 2.4 million homes since it began in 2013. The Government estimates that under ECO4, around 800,000 measures may be installed in around 450,000 households, including 155,000 households with EPC ratings of E, F or G by March 2026. While park home households are within the scope of ECO4, the Government does not hold estimates of how many are eligible for support under the scheme.
Under ECO4, which began in April 2022, 1 park home household had been in receipt of energy efficiency measures by the end of September 2022.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many ECO4 installations have been (a) approved for funding and (b) completed since June 2022.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As ECO is not a Government grant, but an obligation placed upon larger energy suppliers to install energy efficiency and heating measures in the homes of low-income and vulnerable households, it is the decision of ECO-obligated suppliers to determine which installations they contract for and approve. Government does not get involved with the private contractual decisions of these parties and does not know how much funding has been approved.
BEIS publishes information on the number of ECO4 installations by month in Table 2.5b accompanying the latest Household Energy Efficiency Statistics release.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households have been awarded funding for energy efficiency installations under the ECO4 scheme in (a) Ceredigion constituency and (b) Wales.
Answered by Graham Stuart
BEIS estimates that under the ECO4 scheme, 48 households have had measures installed in Ceredigion constituency and 398 households have had measures installed in Wales, to the end of September 2022.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many domestic households in Ceredigion depend on (a) air source and (b) ground source heat pumps for their heating.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database shows that as of 31 December 2022, (a) 436 air source heat pumps and (b) 53 ground/water source heat pumps were installed in domestic properties in Ceredigion.
The database does not include all heat pump installations, for example, those installed without Government funding support, such as in new buildings, which are not typically recorded in the Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of the number of households that are eligible for the Warm Home Discount Scheme in Wales.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government estimates that around 180,000 to 200,000 households in Wales will have received a Warm Home Discount rebate by the end of March this year. The Government does not yet have precise figures as the Warm Home Discount helpline remains open and continues to take calls to identify further households eligible for a rebate. More precise figures will be available after the scheme year has ended.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether households that depend solely on (a) air source or (b) ground source heat pumps for their heating will be eligible for support under the Alternative Fuel Payment scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Alternative Fuel Payment scheme is designed to help those households who do not use electricity or gas to heat their homes to meet energy costs this winter. Alternative fuels include heating oil, coal, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and biomass.
Heat pumps run on electricity. Therefore households with heat pumps will already receive support with their running costs through the Energy Price Guarantee, rather than the Alternative Fuel Payment.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Royal Mail Group's proposal to move to five-day letter delivery on the rural economy.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government’s objective continues to be ensuring the provision of a sustainable, accessible, and affordable universal postal service. The Government has no current plans to change the statutory minimum requirements of the universal postal service which are set out in section 31 of the Postal Services Act 2011.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much of the additional funding allocated to the Eco+ scheme announced on 28 November will be allocated to Wales.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The ECO+ scheme places legal obligations on the larger energy suppliers to deliver energy bill savings to consumers through the installation of energy efficiency measures. It will be worth an extra £1 billion in addition to the current ECO4 scheme. This £1 billon will be used to set mandatory targets for obligated suppliers, which will apply across Great Britain. There are no restrictions on the number of eligible homes that can receive support in Wales within the £1bn funding envelope.