Off-gas Grid Households
Debate between Hywel Williams and David CrausbyWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
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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.