Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring energy companies to pay the rest of the amount due under the Energy Bills Support Scheme in cash value rather than via credits on people's electricity accounts in cases where the value of a customer’s direct debit is less than the value of the EBSS payment.

Energy suppliers are delivering the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) to households in Great Britain with a domestic electricity contract in six monthly instalments to help reduce bills over the winter period. If a customer does build up a surplus in their account, they can contact their supplier to request a refund of that credit. Delivering EBSS is a complex and unique task which is delivering help to millions of households each month and the Government does not plan to amend the agreed process.