Business Energy Supply Billing: Regulation
Peter Dowd Excerpts(3 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Peter Dowd (in the Chair)
If gentlemen, or anybody else, want to take their jackets off, feel free to do so.
Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered regulatory powers over billing of energy supply to businesses.
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Dowd. My constituent Samantha Panton opened the Roasters café on the high street more than 35 years ago. Recently, she received a demand from E.ON Next for £10,000, payable within seven days, with threats to disconnect her electricity and close her business, putting 10 jobs at risk. That debt arose because E.ON Next confused her day and night meter readings. Although she had agreed to a £500 weekly payment plan, the company abandoned the arrangement and instead chose to pursue the closure of her business.
Upon thorough investigation, including a review of her accounts dating back to 2017, I discovered that E.ON Next actually owed her £4,433. When I raised concerns about its mishandling of the credit notes and breaches of back-billing regulations, my communications were ignored. Without enforcement or penalties, there is little incentive for companies to change their behaviour. That situation highlights a wider problem: energy companies impose excessive charges on small businesses while routinely engaging in questionable practices under minimal regulation. Small businesses have limited resources when suppliers act unfairly.
Offshore Wind: Public Ownership
Peter Dowd Excerpts(1 year, 10 months ago)
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Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Beth Winter (Cynon Valley) (Lab)
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate. I will make two points and then I would like to put a couple of questions to the Minister. Today’s debate is very—
Peter Dowd (in the Chair)
Order. This is an intervention on the hon. Member for East Lothian (Kenny MacAskill), not on the Minister, and you will have to keep the intervention short as well.
Beth Winter
Okay. I will address the questions to the hon. Gentleman.
Hon. Members will agree that this debate is timely, following the confirmation last week that there were no bids for new offshore wind development in the latest auction round, which means that the Government are criminally behind the curve when it comes to reaching 50 GW of offshore wind power generation by 2023. That has resulted in delays for the Erebus wind farm in my country of Wales. First of all, does the hon. Gentleman agree that last week’s announcement demonstrated that—
Peter Dowd (in the Chair)
Order. I am sorry—you will have to sit down, please. An intervention is made to ask a question of a Member; it should not be a small speech. It has to be very short, because the debate is only for half an hour. An intervention is not an alternative method of making a speech—it has to be a question.
Beth Winter
Okay. In terms of the future of wind energy and renewable energy in my country of Wales, does the hon. Gentleman agree that now is the time that the Crown Estate and its administration is devolved to Wales, as it is in Scotland, so that we can disburse the moneys as we see fit?