Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions his Department has had with Ofgem on improving oversight of energy suppliers’ billing practices to help prevent inaccurate estimated billing after actual meter readings have been submitted.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the Energy Ombudsman on (a) trends in the number of billing inaccuracies and (b) the impact of billing inaccuracies on customers.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether their Department has made an assessment of the impact of energy suppliers incorrectly reporting missed payments to credit reference agencies based on erroneous estimated bills on consumers.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
While this is a commercial matter between suppliers and credit reference agencies, the Government takes the issue of accurate billing very seriously.
All suppliers must take the required steps to reflect accurate meter readings in bills or statements sent to customers where these have been provided by a customer or obtained by the supplier. This is also laid out in the Ofgem’s licence conditions.
All energy suppliers must follow Ofgem’s enforceable overarching principles of the Standard Licence Conditions 0 and 0A. These are a set of broad and enforceable ‘standards of conduct’ principles that set fundamental expectations on how suppliers must ensure fair treatment of each customer. These principles guide supplier behaviour, information provision, and customer service processes.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 ensure energy suppliers issue accurate bills based on customer-submitted meter readings rather than estimated usage.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government takes the issue of accurate billing very seriously. All suppliers must take the required steps to reflect accurate meter readings in bills or statements sent to customers. This is laid out in Ofgem licence conditions.
All energy suppliers must follow Ofgem’s enforceable overarching principles of the Standard Licence Conditions 0 and 0A. These are a set of broad and enforceable ‘standards of conduct’ principles that set fundamental expectations on how suppliers must ensure fair treatment of each customer. These principles guide supplier behaviour, information provision, and customer service processes. For domestic consumers, the Standards also dictate how suppliers identify and respond to consumers in vulnerable situations.