Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of gas and electricity suppliers' licence obligation to inspect their customers’ meters.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Licensing is matter for the expert independent regulator, Ofgem. Licence conditions require that a customer’s bill is based on the best available metering information, and that where a supplier visits a customer’s premises, staff are properly trained to carry out such visits safely and effectively. Suppliers must take all reasonable steps to obtain meter readings at least annually.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including receipt of PIP as a qualifying requirement for the Energy Company Obligation scheme.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
ECO4 includes flexible eligibility (ECO Flex), which allows local authorities and energy suppliers to refer households even if they do not meet the eligible benefits criteria. Households may qualify for support if they have a severe long-term health condition which could be affected by living in a cold home.
The Great British Insulation Scheme aims to drive delivery of the most cost-effective insulation to a wider pool of households.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to remove (a) electricity and (b) gas standing charges for customers on pre-payment meters.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The standing charge is a fixed charge that suppliers pass on to their customers to cover the cost of providing a live supply. It includes the cost of using pipes and power lines carrying the supply, the maintenance and installation of meters and billing and accounting.
Ofgem has recently consulted on levelling the cost of standing charges on Prepayment Meters by socialising prices across payment types, to make standing charges more equal across different payment types. Ofgem is currently considering the responses, with an aim to implement changes in April 2024, following the end of the Energy Price Guarantee.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent discussions she has had with Ofgem on the adequacy of regulation for (a) electricity and (b) gas standing charges.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
DESNZ Ministers regularly meet with Ofgem to discuss issues relating to the energy retail market.
The setting of the standing charge is a commercial matter for suppliers. It reflects the ongoing costs that suppliers incur to provide a live supply of energy to individual properties, regardless of how much energy is consumed.
The standing charge includes transmission and distribution costs and the Supplier of Last Resort levy.
The allocation of these costs is regulated by Ofgem.
The energy price cap also set by Ofgem limits what suppliers can charge for the standing charge to consumers on default tariffs.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an estimate of the median cost of carbon in the (a) UK and (b) EU.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK Emissions Trading Scheme and the EU Emissions Trading System are the main carbon pricing initiatives in the UK and EU respectively. Their traded units are UK Allowances and EU Allowances – both equate to 1 tCO2e. Benchmark prices for each scheme are the front December Futures contracts (currently December 2023) traded on the Intercontinental Exchange.
The median End-of-Day settlement price of UK Allowances, calculated from the start of 2023 until the end of June 2023, is £68.18.
The median End-of-Day settlement price of EU Allowances, calculated from the start of 2023 until the end of June 2023, is £77.92/€89.32.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the potential impact of changes in the level of energy costs for energy-intensive industries on the number of redundancies between June 2022 and June 2023.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Responsibility for the business effects of energy costs lies with the Department for Business and Trade. Officials there carry out ongoing engagement with trade associations and directly with individual businesses to ensure they stay well informed of the ongoing and potential consequences of high energy costs including on employment.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many and what proportion of eligible businesses have claimed support under the Energy Bills Discount Scheme.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) started in April 2023 and will remain in place until April 2024. The Government will shortly be publishing information on the support offered to date under the scheme.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to promote the availability of energy support schemes to eligible energy-intensive enterprises.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department has worked with relevant trade associations and energy suppliers to promote awareness amongst energy trade and intensive industries (ETIIs), held engagement sessions to ensure that businesses understand their eligibility and the application process, and published guidance specific to ETIIs on GOV.UK.
The Government has a communications strategy for the Energy Bills Discount Scheme targeted at ETIIs and are working to ensure that as many customers as possible receive the support they are entitled to.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the high energy cost threshold for qualification for the Warm Homes Discount (a) is and (b) has been in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government sets the high-energy-cost threshold to expend the annual spending target. The threshold is set according to the number of rebates available and to prioritise low-income households living in properties estimated to be the highest cost to heat.
The Government uses data on the type, age, and size of properties to estimate relative heating costs and ranks households by the combinations of those property characteristics.
The Government set the threshold for the 2022/23 scheme year and will confirm over the summer whether there will be any adjustment for the 2023/24 scheme year.
Further information can be found here:
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what information his Department holds on the number of households that were previously in receipt of the Warm Homes Discount which were informed by their energy supplier that the discount would be applied automatically in 2023 and then told that they were ineligible for the scheme following introduction of the 2022-23 energy cost score criteria.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to her on 9 March 2023 to Question 156174. In addition, the Government expanded the scheme from winter 2022/23 onwards to support more households and increased the value of the rebate to £150.
The Government has expanded the Warm Home Discount scheme this year to support more low-income and vulnerable households. The Government published impact assessments when consulting and publishing the Government’s response, which compared the option for reforming the scheme to continuing the previous scheme.
As households previously applied through their suppliers, who set their own application processes and eligibility criteria and selected successful applicants each year, the Government has not been able to assess how many households previously eligible are no longer eligible.