Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 make provision to support households who use oil heating and who will be unable to afford to heat their homes in winter with the aid of financial support already announced.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Alternative Fuel Payment will provide a one-off payment to UK households that use alternative fuels for heating, such as heating oil. This will come in addition to the £400 provided by the Energy Bills Support Scheme and the electricity component of the Energy Price Guarantee.
The Government is also providing £800 of one-off support to eight million of the most vulnerable households to help with the cost of living.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with businesses effected by rising energy prices.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government regularly engages with businesses to understand the impact rising energy prices will have on businesses of all sizes.
The recently announced Energy Bill Relief Scheme (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-outlines-plans-to-help-cut-energy-bills-for-businesses) ensures that all businesses and other non-domestic customers are protected from excessively high energy bills over the winter period. A review of the scheme, to be published in three months, will identify the most vulnerable non-domestic customers and how the government will continue assisting them with energy costs after the initial six months.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 will take steps to consult hon. Members when making assessments of local levels of support for new fracking sites.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government expects industry to work closely with communities in order to gather the local support needed, as well as to determine what kind of community benefits will be put in place.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 make assessments of levels of local consent for fracking.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government expects industry to work closely with communities in order to gather the local support needed, as well as to determine what kind of community benefits will be put in place.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government has made an assessment of potential sites for new tidal power sites.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The identification and leasing of marine energy sites is a matter for the Crown Estate and the Crown Estate Scotland.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to invest in research on the (a) improvement and (b) optimisation of tidal power.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In July this year over 40MW of new tidal stream capacity was procured via the government’s flagship Contracts for Difference scheme. This contract award will enable tidal stream developers to gain operational experience and work on improving and optimising their technologies. Tidal stream continues to be eligible for a suite of competitively allocated Net Zero innovation grant funding opportunities, with the Government having spent over £80m on marine energy innovation since 2010.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 potential impact of rising energy prices on SMEs.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government recognises the impact rising energy prices will have on businesses of all sizes and is in regular contact with business groups and suppliers to understand the challenges they face and explore ways to protect consumers and businesses.
The recently announced Energy Bill Relief Scheme ( https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-outlines-plans-to-help-cut-energy-bills-for-businesses) ensures that all businesses and other non-domestic customers are protected from excessively high energy bills over the winter period. A review of the scheme, to be published in three months, will identify the most vulnerable non-domestic customers and how the government will continue assisting them with energy costs after the initial six months.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 impact of rising energy prices on off-grid communities that are reliant on oil.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Households not on standard gas or electricity contracts, such as those in rural areas, will receive equivalent support to that provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, and the Energy Price Guarantee. The Government is working at pace to determine the most practical and tested routes to deliver this support. As part of this, for households who do not use gas for domestic heating, the Government has committed to provide an additional payment of £100 to compensate for the rising costs of other fuels such as heating oil.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 potential impact of the expansion of extraction activity in the North Sea on wholesale domestic gas price.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As an internationally traded commodity, natural gas prices are primarily driven by the underlying price in the global market. Many of the factors affecting the spikes seen recently in wholesale gas prices are attributable to international activity extending beyond the UK's domestic production. To date, the Department has not undertaken analysis of the impact of increased domestic gas production on domestic wholesale price specifically.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 potential impact of rising energy prices on (a) pubs and (b) breweries.
Answered by Graham Stuart
BEIS is monitoring the impact of energy prices on businesses and recognises the scale will vary depending on business type and type of contract or tariff.
The recently announced Energy Bill Relief Scheme ( https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-outlines-plans-to-help-cut-energy-bills-for-businesses) ensures that all businesses and other non-domestic customers are protected from excessively high energy bills over the winter period. A review of the scheme, to be published in three months, will identify the most vulnerable non-domestic customers and how the government will continue assisting them with energy costs after the initial six months.
The Government is also providing support via with business rates relief, freezing alcohol duty rates on beer, cider, wine and spirits, and increasing the employment allowance.