Prepayment Meters

Debate between Ruth Edwards and Graham Stuart

Monday 23rd January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. As I have said, we are looking at the treatment of vulnerable customers overall, including on the issue she raises through her Bill.

[Ruth Edwards (Rushcliffe) (Con)]

I am incredibly concerned to hear reports of a number of vulnerable customers being moved on to prepayment meters and to hear energy companies quoted in the media as saying that higher energy prices are here to stay, implying that the fall in wholesale prices will not be passed on to our constituents. I welcome the Government’s actions on both issues, but can my hon. Friend set out what steps are available to the Government if energy suppliers do not play fair, and reassure my constituents that he will take those steps if needed?

[Graham Stuart]

Suppliers are required to provide emergency and friendly hours credit to all prepayment meter customers, and where a supplier identifies that a customer in a vulnerable situation has self-disconnected or is self-disconnecting, it must offer them additional support credit where it is in the customer’s best interest to do so. Ofgem warned suppliers way back in June 2018 that PPMs should only be installed as a last resort for debt collection and banned forcible installations for vulnerable consumers in 2017. We are watching to ensure that we have the right steps in place and will take further steps if required to make sure that suppliers live up to their obligations.

Electric Vehicle Battery Production

Debate between Ruth Edwards and Graham Stuart

Wednesday 18th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

The hon. Gentleman, who is himself a distinguished Chair of a Select Committee, is right to highlight some of the pressures from IRA in the United States and the response from the EU. We have to ensure that we have policies in place and I look forward—[Interruption.] In the coming weeks, we will be coming forward with our green finance strategy and our response to the Climate Change Committee. In hydrogen, carbon capture and so many of these industries, the UK is world leading. We are determined to ensure through a raft of different policies—I know his Select Committee will be scrutinising them—that we retain that position, which has transformed the UK from where it was in 2010, when there was higher unemployment and so little progress on net zero.

[Ruth Edwards (Rushcliffe) (Con)]

To have secure battery production, we need a secure supply of lithium, so the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee was very concerned to hear last year that 95% of the world’s current supply of lithium is processed in China. Can the Minister tell the House what the Government will be doing to increase the resilience of the UK’s lithium supply chain both in boosting production at home and in creating partnerships with allies, because we cannot continue this over-reliance on China?

[Graham Stuart]

As ever in this area, I know my hon. Friend’s insights on security issues more broadly and specifically on critical minerals are well founded. The critical minerals strategy sets out our plans to improve the resilience of supply chains and increase the supply by accelerating the growth of the UK’s capabilities, as she suggested—there is a development and investment in my own constituency, at Saltend, in critical materials—as well as by collaborating with international partners and enhancing international markets to make them more responsive.

Ban on Fracking for Shale Gas Bill

Debate between Ruth Edwards and Graham Stuart

Wednesday 19th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

We will continue to lead the world and drive forward offshore and onshore wind and solar energy, we will have SMRs and gigawatt-level nuclear, as well as support for AMRs, and we will come forward with proposals to support hydrogen and CCUS. We are looking all across the piece to drive the green revolution, but as part of that work we need to secure the gas and oil we rely on at the moment as we manage and drive down our usage on the path to net zero.

[Ruth Edwards]

I really need to press the Minister on this question of a confidence vote. Many of us have been told today by our Whips that if we vote for, or abstain from voting against, this motion, we will lose the Whip. Will he please confirm whether that is the case?