Off-gas Grid Households

David Crausby Excerpts

Tuesday 16th April 2013 Westminster Hall

[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton) on securing a debate on this important matter, which affects so many of our constituents. I do not intend to speak for long, Mr Crausby, as the consensual conclusions on this issue coalesce around a recognised need for more and stronger regulation in the market.

The lack of gas connectivity has been raised by my constituents in the rural parts of East Cleveland, especially those living in outlying houses or small ex-farm buildings in and around communities such as Charltons, Margrove Park and Moorsholm. Although I recognise that there are large urban off-grid populations, the lack of mains gas supply is particularly problematic in rural areas. The 2009 English housing survey found that 36% of households in rural England are not covered by the gas grid, compared with 8% of urban households.

Rural poverty has many causes, but the additional costs of energy and fuel faced by rural households are almost certainly a major factor. Fuel poverty is a major issue throughout the country, but it is all the more acute in small settlements in rural areas. Indeed, in 2010, some 24.1% of households in villages, hamlets and isolated dwellings were fuel poor, compared with the then national average of 16.4%, and that figure has increased again, as we have heard in the statistics quoted today.

Particularly high fuel poverty in such communities can be at least partially explained through the lack of gas connectivity. The cost of heating oil is approximately twice that of heating a home by gas, so it is little wonder, though still appalling, that on average, in 2009, the cost to a rural household in ensuring an adequate standard of warmth was £346 more than for an urban household.

Furthermore, a household with oil central heating is almost twice as likely to be fuel poor as one with gas central heating. With such a clear relationship between gas connectivity and fuel poverty, there are significant benefits in trying to increase connectivity. Where that is not practical, the Government should be working to ensure that alternative fuels are as affordable as possible to off-gas grid households, and to concentrate efforts to increase the energy efficiency of rural households.

Although I am aware that the Office of Fair Trading examined the situation faced by off-gas grid households, I am particularly grateful to the all-party parliamentary group on off-gas grid for its work on the matter. Its co-chairs, my hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham (Pat Glass), whose constituency, like mine, has significant rural poverty, and the hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) deserve credit in ensuring that the APPG undertook its own comprehensive inquiry in addition to that of the OFT. That inquiry has made several interesting recommendations to which I hope the Government award significant consideration.

Although this is something of a niche issue, there are a significant number of park homes in my constituency, and I am aware of the issues that many of those residents face. I urge the Minister to pay particular attention to the insufficient consumer protection regarding the fuel used by park-home residents, as highlighted as a case study in the APPG’s inquiry, and accordingly to introduce the necessary secondary legislation to rectify the situation.

The APPG’s recommendation that a Minister assumes lead responsibility for the off-gas grid sector is a perfectly reasonable and attainable move. Similarly, it seems entirely logical, at least at first glance, that on and off-grid gas should be covered by the same regulator, and I hope that that suggestion is considered by the Government.

Given the current economic mire and the fact that the potential for grid expansion was last analysed in 2001, I urge the Government to consider reassessing the situation, especially in consideration of the dramatic increases in the price of oil, and to extend mains gas heating to the 500,000 people who currently do not have it despite having a mains gas connection.

[Mr David Crausby (in the Chair)]

I intend to call the Front-Bench speakers at 10.30.

--- Later in debate ---

[Hywel Williams]

I hope that the hon. Gentleman will forgive me for not giving way, as time is rather short.

You would not want me to wander off the point, Mr Crausby, but may I note that I saw that particular gentleman because he is also going to be paying the bedroom tax at £18.40? I have no idea how he will do that on £72.40, with bedroom tax at £18.40 and buying LPG at £40 a shot. He has no savings, no job and very little possibility of moving.

I will press on to say, very briefly, that households that use oil or LPG as their main source of heating are more likely to use secondary heating than are other homes. In Wales, 85% of heating oil consumers use fuels for secondary heating and most frequently use solid fuel—that is, they use oil, but they also use coal, or some use wood. Only 23% of consumers in Wales with mains gas heating use other fuels for secondary heating, so mains gas is not an answer.

Lastly, I refer to the Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Angus and commend it yet again. It would allow pensioners to be given the winter fuel payment earlier in the year. I would like to see that extended to solid fuel. My hon. Friend’s Bill was deliberately restricted in scope to increase its chances of being passed, which I hope it is. Again, I press the Minister and the Government to give it proper consideration.

On 16 January, I asked the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether the Government could make winter fuel payments earlier, so that people would get more value, or more “bang for the buck” as it were. Interestingly, the Secretary of State said:

“My Department has been encouraging people in many parts of the country who are off grid to buy early, because they can get much better deals than if they leave it until later.”

That is precisely the point that I was making. He then said:

“Although the extra payments are welcome to those who get them, they are not received by everybody. They do not address the fundamental problem of homes and appliances that waste energy and money.”—[Official Report, 16 January 2013; Vol. 556, c. 950.]

Well, “hear, hear” I say—that is a very fine point—but I would not want the Secretary of State or the Minister to use their not being able to do something fundamental as an excuse to do nothing at all.

[Mr David Crausby (in the Chair)]

There is time for a very short contribution from Alan Reid.