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 provide freephone customer helplines; and whether he (a) has had and (b) plans to have discussions with energy companies on the provision of freephone customer helplines.

Domestic customers should be able to access their energy supplier’s telephone customer services easily and without high call charges by offering freephone or low-cost geographic numbers. The decision to provide a freephone number is a commercial matter for individual companies and there are no plans to discuss this matter. Energy suppliers who have signed up to Energy UK’s Vulnerability Commitment must have a freephone number for consumers who are in debt. Some also have a designated freephone line for prepayment meter and Priority Service customers.