Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 assessment of the potential merits of allowing people who receive the Warm Home Discount the option to have it paid to their gas supplier rather than their electricity supplier.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Participating energy suppliers are responsible for providing Warm Home Discount rebates to their eligible customers.
Eligible households receive their payment on their electricity supply by default to ensure it is clear which supplier is accountable for providing the rebate. This also reduces the risk of rebate payments being duplicated or missed between different suppliers.
Where a customer is eligible for a rebate and receives both electricity and gas from one supplier, known as a dual fuel supply, they may request for the rebate to be provided on their gas supply. This is at the discretion of the energy supplier.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the creation of businesses.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We are encouraging the creation of businesses through the Start Up Loan scheme which provides loans and mentoring support to new entrepreneurs, as well as through our network of 38 Growth Hubs across England which provide access to information and advice on starting a business.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 assessment of the potential merits of allowing people to choose whether to receive the Warm Home Discount from their gas supplier rather than their electricity supplier.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Households eligible for a Warm Home Discount rebate receive their payment on their electricity supply by default to ensure it is clear which supplier is accountable for providing the rebate. This also reduces the risk of rebate payments being duplicated or missed between different suppliers.
Where a customer is eligible for a rebate and receives both electricity and gas from one supplier, known as a dual fuel supply, they may request for the rebate to be provided on their gas supply. This is at the discretion of the energy supplier.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to his Answer of 25 November to Question 89897, Energy: Houseboats, what steps he is taking to (a) identify houseboat residents and (b) ensure they receive their Energy Bills Support Scheme payments in a timely manner, and what steps he is taking to ensure they have parity of support with residents on terra firma when the EBRS discount scheme ends.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding will provide support of £400 for energy bills for households without a domestic electricity supply, including those who are off the energy grid entirely. This may include houseboats, subject to eligibility checks. Eligibility, timescales and method of delivery will be announced shortly.
HM Treasury is currently conducting a review of the current Energy Bill Relief Scheme and evidence from a broad range of stakeholders has already been received. The Government intends to report on this by the end of the year.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 taken recent steps to help ensure that energy suppliers punctually and adequately refund the credit balances of their customers who pay for their energy (a) by direct debit and (b) in other ways.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has no plans to intervene in this area. Under existing rules set by Ofgem, suppliers must automatically refund outstanding credit balances within 10 days of issuing a final bill. Suppliers must also refund accumulated credit on request by an existing customer in a timely manner unless they have reasonable grounds not to.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an estimate of the number of houseboat residents who are not protected by the domestic energy price cap as they purchase electricity through residential mooring operators who pay commercial rates; and whether he is taking steps to help those residents with the cost of energy.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Non-domestic customers, including marina operators, can benefit from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS). EBRS provides a price reduction ensuring that eligible businesses and non-domestic customers are protected from excessively high energy bills. Marina operators that act as intermediaries and are eligible for the EBRS discount are expected to pass this on to their end users in a just and reasonable way. EBRS discounts to eligible customers are provided directly by energy suppliers, therefore the Department cannot provide an estimate of the number of houseboat residents who will be entitled to the EBRS nor the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG).
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of conducting a review into postage stamp prices.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As a private business, Royal Mail’s management sets the prices for its services. The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail’s commercial decisions.
In setting prices Royal Mail must observe the regulatory framework set by Ofcom, the independent regulator. This framework imposes price caps, ‘safeguard caps’, on certain second-class products to ensure a basic universal service is available to all at affordable prices and users of postal services, especially vulnerable consumers, are protected from on-going price rises.
Ofcom plans to review the safeguard caps with a consultation and statement during 2023/24.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 reapply green levies to fuel bills following the end of the Energy Price Guarantee in April.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Energy Price Guarantee includes the temporary suspension of green levies. A Treasury-led review of the scheme will design a new approach to support households and businesses with energy bills after April 2023. Outcomes of the review will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 publish the eligibility criteria for the Warm Home Discount Core Group 2.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government published a draft Eligibility Statement for the Warm Home Discount scheme for England and Wales over the summer, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/warm-home-discount-england-and-wales-draft-eligibility-statement. The Government has considered the responses to the draft and the final Eligibility Statement has now been published, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/warm-home-discount-eligibility-statement-england-and-wales.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the take up rate amongst pre-payment meter customers of vouchers for the £400 rebate; what plans he has to support those who are digitally excluded; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Suppliers are reporting to the Department on scheme delivery, including the redemption of prepayment meter vouchers. These figures will be published in due course.
Prepayment meter customers in England, Scotland and Wales should have already received their first Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) discount voucher. These have been sent by SMS text, email or post.
Suppliers are obliged to take all reasonable steps to ensure the EBSS voucher is provided and redeemed, including by making a minimum of three attempts by at least two different methods to contact customers who have not redeemed their payment to encourage them to take action.