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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to reduce fuel poverty in rural areas.

The current Energy Company Obligation (ECO), which runs until September 2017, has a requirement that suppliers deliver 15% of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Obligation (CERO – a sub-obligation within ECO) to rural areas.

The Warm Home Discount provides a rebate of £140 off the bills of over 2 million low income and vulnerable customers each winter. Rebates are typically deducted from electricity bills as to not disadvantage households who do not have a mains gas supply.

The Department will shortly consult on the ECO scheme that will run from October 2018 until March 2022. We intend to propose focusing the scheme on low income and vulnerable households and will also make proposals with regard to rural delivery.