Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether a Microgeneration Scheme Certificate is required to access a Smart Energy Generation payment.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Under the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), generators using solar, wind and micro-combined heat and power (CHP) installations up to 50kW are required to demonstrate that their installation and installer are suitably certified to be eligible to receive SEG payments from a supplier. This may be a Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certificate, but the SEG also recognises that other schemes may be equivalent to MCS. Further details about the SEG eligibility requirements can be found at https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/smart-export-guarantee-guidance-generators
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
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 records the number of people who are on the Priority Services Register.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government does not record this data however Ofgem, as the regulator, does. According to Ofgem’s statistics, as of 31st December 2021, 7,352,529 and 6,266,228 consumers were on the Priority Services Register for electricity and gas respectively.
Ofgem requires all suppliers to provide a Priority Services Register for vulnerable consumers with additional, non-financial needs. Those on a Priority Service Register are offered a range of services relating to safety, access, and communication free of charge.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
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 impose a moratorium on people on the Priority Services Register being put on energy pre-payment meters.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Prepayment meters enable customers to budget and can help reduce the risk of entering, or exacerbating, debt. When installing a prepayment meter, suppliers must consider whether this is appropriate for the specific customer, including whether this is safe and practical.
Ofgem also requires suppliers to maintain a Priority Services Register for vulnerable consumers with additional, non-financial needs. Those on a Priority Service Register are offered a range of free services relating to safety, access, and communication.
Whether a consumer is on the Priority Services Register is not necessarily relevant to whether a prepayment meter is appropriate for a specific customer.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people on the Priority Services Register are on energy pre-payment meters.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Ofgem collects data separately on the number of individuals on the priority service register (PSR) and the number on pre-payment meters. As of the 31st December 2021, 7,352,529 and 6,266,228 of consumers were on the PSR for electricity and gas respectively. In Q2 2022, 4,171,948 and 3,247,403 were on a pre-payment meter for gas and electricity respectively.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support his Department has provided on the cost of energy for businesses reliant on LPG or unregulated fuels.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government announced on 21st September that it will provide support to non-domestic properties using alternative fuels. Further information will be provided shortly.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
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 it his policy to instruct OFGEM to declare a moratorium on energy pre-payment meters.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Prepayment meters enable customers to control and budget for the amount they spend and help mitigate the risk of going into, or exacerbating, existing debt.
Ofgem’s Licence Conditions require suppliers to consider all options for appropriate debt management. This can include installing a prepayment meter but suppliers have to consider whether this is safe and practicable, including whether a prepayment meter is appropriate for the specific customer. Ofgem rules restrict the imposition of a prepayment meter on those in arrears, except as a last resort.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
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 take steps with Ofgem to require power suppliers to not (a) encourage and (b) force customers to accept a prepayment meter.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Ofgem rules restrict the force fitting of a prepayment meter to repay debt except as a last resort. Ofgem’s License Conditions require suppliers to consider all options for appropriate debt management. This can include installing a prepayment meter, but suppliers have to consider whether this is safe and practicable, including whether a prepayment meter is appropriate for the specific customer.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
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 publish a list of projects that have been supported by the Longer Duration Energy Storage £68 million grant programme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government announced the winners of Phase 1 of the Long Duration Energy Storage Programme on 3 May 2022. Details of Phase 1 projects can be found here:
Details of projects successful in progressing to Phase 2 will be announced on completion of a competitive down-selection process and commercial due diligence processes. Successful ‘Stream 1’ projects are expected to be announced in early 2023 and successful ‘Stream 2’ projects will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
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 will take to support community-owned solar farms.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Through UK-wide growth funding schemes, the Government is enabling local areas to achieve net zero goals in ways that best suit their needs. Community energy projects, including solar farms, are encouraged within these schemes.
Ofgem also supports community energy projects and is now welcoming applications from community interest groups, co-operative societies, and community benefit societies to the Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme.
Given the level of support already available, the Government has no current plans to take further steps to support the development of community-owned solar farms.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in the context of constraint costs and grid capacity issues, whether he plans to provide support to long-duration energy storage technologies.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In April 2022, this Government, in the British Energy Security Strategy, committed to ensuring the deployment of sufficient large scale long duration electricity storage to balance the overall system by developing appropriate policy to enable investment by 2024.