Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to bring the gas purchased for community heat networks under the energy price cap set by Ofgem.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Heat network operators typically buy their energy through commercial contracts. As the energy price cap has been designed for domestic electricity and gas customers, it could not be applied to the price of energy purchased on the wholesale market.
DESNZ and Ofgem continue to monitor the heat network sector and to consider actions that could improve price deals available to heat network operators.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 help small and medium high street businesses manage energy costs in Sutton and Cheam constituency.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Wholesale energy costs have decreased for non-domestic consumers since the global energy crisis, but we recognise that some businesses may be struggling to pay their bills.
The Government believes that the only way to protect billpayers permanently, including small and medium sized enterprises, is to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels and towards homegrown clean energy. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.
For non-domestic consumers who agreed to contracts at very expensive rates at the peak of price spikes, they can contact their supplier to enquire about ‘blend and extend’ contracts. These contracts blend the original, higher, unit rate with a new lower rate, spreading the cost over the course of an extended contract lifetime.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what funding is available to local councils to support the retrofitting of local authority homes in London to achieve an EPC grade C by 2030.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As the first step towards the Warm Homes Plan, the Government has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency. The Government will partner with combined authorities and local councils to roll out this plan.
Alongside current energy efficiency schemes, local councils will receive support through the recently announced Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF) in England, and Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG), with delivery expected in 2025. The WH:LG will use an expression of interest model to allocate funding to local authorities. The application window will run from 16th October to 1st December 2024.