Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 include natural stone in future (a) low-carbon and (b) sustainable construction incentive schemes.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The department is currently developing policies that will help grow the market for low carbon industrial products, including green procurement and improved carbon accounting. The initial focus of these policies is steel, cement, and concrete products used in construction.
The department recently ran a technical consultation that included questions on whether other industrial sectors should be included in the scope of these policies in future. Although natural stone was not explicitly mentioned in the consultation, it would align with one of the options; to take a strategic approach to expand these policies to other sectors related to construction. The department is currently reviewing the responses to this consultation and will publish a summary and its own response in due course.
The government also recognises the role that whole life carbon assessments can play in helping developers to evaluate carbon emissions across all stages of a building or structure’s life. This approach can support decision makers to adopt materials which have a lower overall environmental impact. Whole life carbon assessments are embedded into green procurement approaches being taken by government departments, such as instituting carbon management plans.
The department would welcome engagement with any interested stakeholders from the natural stone sector.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 require energy suppliers to pay interest on significant customer credit balances held for extended periods.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the year to June 2025, Ofgem data shows that there has been a fall by around £500m of credit balances held by suppliers (Domestic Energy Customer Credit Balances, July 2024 to June 2025 | Ofgem)
Customers may challenge increased direct debit payment amounts with their supplier if they disagree with it and ask the supplier to justify how they calculated the new amount. Suppliers must explain clearly how they reached the figure they want to charge and give the meter readings they used. If a customer is not happy with the supplier’s calculation, they can ask the supplier to lower the monthly payments to reflect the energy use more accurately.
Additionally, if a customer is concerned about the size of a credit balance on their energy account, they can ask their supplier to refund it. Suppliers must do this promptly unless there are reasonable grounds not to and the supplier must explain the reasons for not doing so.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions he has had with Ofgem on the (a) total value of credit balances currently held by domestic energy suppliers and (b) steps it is taking to ensure that surplus credit is refunded promptly to customers.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the year to June 2025, Ofgem data shows that there has been a fall by around £500m of credit balances held by suppliers (Domestic Energy Customer Credit Balances, July 2024 to June 2025 | Ofgem)
Customers may challenge increased direct debit payment amounts with their supplier if they disagree with it and ask the supplier to justify how they calculated the new amount. Suppliers must explain clearly how they reached the figure they want to charge and give the meter readings they used. If a customer is not happy with the supplier’s calculation, they can ask the supplier to lower the monthly payments to reflect the energy use more accurately.
Additionally, if a customer is concerned about the size of a credit balance on their energy account, they can ask their supplier to refund it. Suppliers must do this promptly unless there are reasonable grounds not to and the supplier must explain the reasons for not doing so.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions his Department has had with energy suppliers on the level of their compliance with licence requirements to ensure that direct debit levels reflect customers’ actual energy use and account balances.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the year to June 2025, Ofgem data shows that there has been a fall by around £500m of credit balances held by suppliers (Domestic Energy Customer Credit Balances, July 2024 to June 2025 | Ofgem)
Customers may challenge increased direct debit payment amounts with their supplier if they disagree with it and ask the supplier to justify how they calculated the new amount. Suppliers must explain clearly how they reached the figure they want to charge and give the meter readings they used. If a customer is not happy with the supplier’s calculation, they can ask the supplier to lower the monthly payments to reflect the energy use more accurately.
Additionally, if a customer is concerned about the size of a credit balance on their energy account, they can ask their supplier to refund it. Suppliers must do this promptly unless there are reasonable grounds not to and the supplier must explain the reasons for not doing so.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 support (a) rural and (b) off-grid households that use heating oil in the context of the Warm Homes Plan; and what assessment she has made of the potential contribution of renewable liquid heating fuels for supporting those households to decarbonise affordably.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
For most off-grid properties, decarbonising heat will involve installing a heat pump. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants offer £7,500 for heat pumps, and £5,000 for biomass boilers in specific rural cases.
The government recognises that renewable liquid fuels (RLF) could play a role in heating. We expect sustainable biomass, a limited resource, to be prioritised where there are fewer alternatives to decarbonisation. RLFs are also more expensive to use than other heating solutions. The government continues to review evidence on the affordability and availability of sustainable feedstocks for RLFs.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 improve the energy efficiency of homes in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock into comfortable, low-carbon homes that are fit for the future, including those in the Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency. We will upgrade up to 5 million homes across the country by accelerating the installation of efficient new technologies like heat pumps, solar, batteries and insulation.
The Government has announced Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund in England, to support social housing providers and tenants, as well as the new Warm Homes: Local Grant to support low-income homeowners and private tenants.
The Government has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency. We will publish further details on the Warm Homes Plan in due course.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 support job creation in the renewable energy sector in (a) Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency and (b) Hertfordshire.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s initial assessment of the challenges of building the skilled workforce to deliver the Clean Energy Superpower Mission has been outlined in the Clean Power Action Plan. The Plan includes an Evidence Annex which provides a basis for Government to better understand the 2030 workforce requirements and support targeted skills planning.
By 2030, the clean energy transition could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, benefiting communities across the UK representing the economic opportunity of the century.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 7 February 2025 to Question 27613 on Offshore Industry: North Sea, what further steps his Department is taking to avoid prejudicing future regulatory decision-making on this matter.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Neither the Secretary of State nor I will be commenting on the specifics of individual in order to avoid potentially prejudicing any future regulatory decisions the Secretary of State is required to make in relation to these projects. We remain committed to having the supplementary Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidance in place as soon as possible. Once it is published, assessments of environmental statements can resume.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 support nature-positive renewable energy.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has been engaging with a range of stakeholders, providing an opportunity to share their ideas and views on how government can best encourage nature positive best practice into energy infrastructure planning and development. We are working to better understand how we can integrate nature restoration through Clean Power 2030.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether there is a timeline for the delivery of Great British Energy’s first project to install rooftop solar panels in schools.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The match funding between GBE and DfE announced on 21 March 2025 will enable around 200 schools in England to install solar power and complementary decarbonisation technologies, helping to drive down their energy bills. It is estimated to provide up to £140 million of savings for schools bills over the 30-year lifetime of the panels.
The Government will conduct feasibility studies for schools soon and anticipate installation work to start soon afterwards with the majority of installations happening over the 2025 School Summer holidays.