Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Evans Excerpts

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Kerry McCarthy]

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, assures me that the deal was not signed. He will keep the House informed as and when it is appropriate to do so.

[Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)]

5. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the transparency of domestic energy bill costings.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Miatta Fahnbulleh)]

Under Ofgem’s current rules, suppliers must provide complete and accurate billing information. Critically, bills are required to be displayed in plain and accessible language. We will work with the regulator to ensure that suppliers abide by that. However, it is worth saying that we recognise that many consumers feel let down by a broken energy system that is not working on their behalf. That is why we are reviewing the role of Ofgem, to ensure that it has the powers necessary to be an effective consumer champion.

[Dr Evans]

When it comes to bills, the public understand what unit costs are, but not what standing charges are. When I raised this with the previous Government and Ofcom, they said that it was a complex matter, but what I am asking for is transparency, so that people understand how the charge is made up, and can then make a judgment on what it looks like. Will the Government commit to asking Ofgem to ensure that that information is included in the billing, so that we can see the breakdown of costs—how much is going on human resources and how much is going on the actual infrastructure and wires—so we know exactly what is going on in the energy market?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

We support transparency. Ofgem publishes the breakdown of all costs within bills, but there is more that we need to do to ensure that consumers understand what is going on. Critically for us, we know that consumers are very frustrated about the standing charges, which is why we are committed to lowering them. As I have said, a consultation is under way around what we do with standing charges, which includes introducing a zero-standing-charge tariff. Within that, we will be considering options to increase transparency.