Energy Company Charges

Brooks Newmark Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Brooks Newmark (Braintree) (Con)]

I had not intended to speak, but I have been moved to make a couple of points and did not want to take up hon. Members’ time by intervening. I would first like to congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) on bringing this important matter to the House’s attention and ensuring that we have time to debate it. I also congratulate the Government on at least beginning to tackle it by starting the process of simplifying tariffs, rather than continuing with the confusing situation we had before. That is important, because Opposition Members failed to tackle the problem during their 13 years in government.

Many elderly people in my constituency are suffering from the cold. The problem is exacerbated by two issues: fairness, which is the point of this debate, and transparency. On fairness, as many Members have said, it is extremely unfair that those who have the ability or capability to pay by direct debit should be favoured in one way or another over those who may not have that ability or capability and pay by more traditional means by simply getting their bill, writing a cheque, and putting it in the post. As my hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart) said, someone who pays their bills on time in that way should be rewarded in the same way as any other person who pays their bills on time.

The point about transparency is more subtle. When people, particularly the elderly, look at their paperwork, the writing is almost microscopic when it comes to the detail of the terms of reference and, more importantly, the penalties. Moreover, the language used is extremely complicated, often involving jargon. It would be good if a working group, perhaps through the regulator or even internally in this House, could address the simple issue of trying to use simple language to communicate with consumers. Many consumers get baffled by the language used about the terms they are being told they must sign up to. If they understood the language, perhaps they would not suffer so many penalties.