Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing forecasts for peak time pricing in the energy sector.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
No specific assessment has been made. Forecasting peak‑times and setting pricing and tariffs accordingly for consumers to engage with is something already undertaken by energy suppliers and aggregators.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will take steps to support councils and people to retrofit older housing stock to make it more carbon neutral.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Warm Homes Plan will deliver £15 billion to upgrade Britain’s old housing stock with solar panels, batteries, heat pumps and insulation to cut bills for good.
The Government is committed to working in partnership with local government to deliver the Plan through an area-based approach. This includes £5 billion directly allocated to low-income households to be delivered initially through the the Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG) and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF).
The plan also includes an offer for everyone, with the new Warm Homes Fund to provide up to £5 billion in investments and consumer loans for the home upgrade sector, and an expanded Boiler Upgrade Scheme for all eligible households in England and Wales.
The new Warm Homes Agency will play a pivotal role in supporting local partnerships, convening, facilitating and supporting where necessary to build capacity within local government to help deliver the Plan.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the Department considered introducing measures for businesses comparable to those available to households to mitigate rising energy costs.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Just as we are looking across Government at the situation that households face, the Government is absolutely focused on the impact of the crisis on business and industry, and we will not hesitate to act. We will continue to monitor the situation and consider what contingency plans need to be put in place.
We are reviewing the support provided to business through the Energy Bill Discount scheme that ran until 31 March 2024, including the higher level of support provided to Energy Intensive Industries compared to the universal offer for all businesses.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the average increase in energy costs for small businesses since 2021.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The department publishes statistics on the price paid for electricity and gas by the non-domestic sector.
Industrial energy price statistics - GOV.UK
This includes tables 3.4.1 and 3.4.2 outlining the prices of fuels purchased by non-domestic consumers split by consumption size band.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department plans to introduce targeted support for small businesses facing significant increases in energy costs.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Through our Clean Power 2030 mission we are accelerating the transition to clean, homegrown electricity to shield end-users from the volatility of fossil fuel prices and to deliver reliable, affordable energy to every part of the UK economy.
A significant proportion of businesses are on fixed-term contracts that shield them from market volatility for the contract duration. However, we recognise that at the point of contracting, businesses are exposed to international fossil fuel markets, and clearly, for both businesses and consumers, much will depend on the length of this crisis.
Just as we are looking across Government at the situation that households face, the Government is absolutely focused on the impact of the crisis on business and industry, and we will not hesitate to act.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2024 to Question 52063 on a pump watch petrol price comparison platform, what recent progress he has made on implementing a statutory open data scheme for fuel prices.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Motor Fuel Price (Open Data) Regulations 2025, which provide the statutory footing for the Fuel Finder scheme, came into force on 18 December 2025. Registration to Fuel Finder has now launched for all petrol stations across the UK. Price reporting obligations for retailers will commence on 2 February and will require all petrol stations in the UK to report their prices within 30 minutes of a change.
Motorists will begin to see the benefits of Fuel Finder later this year as near‑real‑time price data is made available to consumer app and navigational service providers.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2024 to Question 52063 on a pump watch petrol price comparison platform, if he will implement a statutory open data scheme for fuel prices.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Motor Fuel Price (Open Data) Regulations 2025, which provide the statutory footing for the Fuel Finder scheme, came into force on 18 December 2025. Registration to Fuel Finder has now launched for all petrol stations across the UK. Price reporting obligations for retailers will commence on 2 February and will require all petrol stations in the UK to report their prices within 30 minutes of a change.
Motorists will begin to see the benefits of Fuel Finder later this year as near‑real‑time price data is made available to consumer app and navigational service providers.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when her Department plans to publish the results of the Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) scheme: indexation changes consultation.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The consultation closed on 12 December. A government response to the consultation on indexation changes to the Feed-in Tariffs scheme is expected to be published in early 2026.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to support people with oil heated homes in Devon.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
For most oil-heated homes transitioning to clean heat will include installing a heat pump. Grants of £7,500 are available through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). As hydronic heat pumps may not be suitable for every property, BUS supports biomass boilers in rural homes with a £5,000 grants and we will offer £2,500 grants to support air-to-air heat pumps from 2026.
Government has recently published a consultation exploring the role of alternative clean heating solutions. The consultation opened on 18 November and will run for 12 weeks.
Finally, we are undertaking research to collect data on the costs of different approaches to decarbonising the most complex housing archetypes and expect to receive results early next year.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to support people suffering with a terminal illness with their energy bills.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The affordability crisis is the biggest issue facing this country. That is why I am proud that the recent Autumn Budget acts to take an average £150 of costs off people’s energy bills.
This support comes on top of the £150 off energy bills that we are providing for around 6 million families under the Warm Home Discount this winter, cutting fuel poverty.
The Government has been clear with suppliers that they should do all that they can to support their customers – including vulnerable consumers – who may be struggling with their bills. I would urge any consumers who are struggling to pay their bills to speak to their supplier, local authority, or Citizens Advice who may be able to provide help and support. They can also visit the GOV.UK website, where extra cost-of-living support can be found - www.gov.uk/cost-of-living.