Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that university students in private rental accommodation (a) are receiving or (b) have received payment from the Energy Bills Support Scheme.

The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and impacted students.

All households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount.

The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding will provide £400 support to those households without a direct relationship to a domestic electricity supplier in England, Scotland, and Wales, who have faced increased energy bill costs since 1 October 2022. This will include students in privately rented accommodation, where they receive their energy from an intermediary, such as a landlord or letting agency, who holds a commercial electricity contract.

The Energy Prices Act passed on 25 October 2022 includes the provision which requires landlords to pass any benefits they receive from energy price support onto end users, as appropriate.

Tenants should not need to take action to receive this benefit as the obligation is on intermediaries, such as landlords, to pass through the benefit and provide the information necessary to do so. If a student believes this obligation has not been met, they are advised to contact their landlord or an intermediary to resolve this in the first instance. Within the regulations, there is also scope to pursue enforcement through civil proceedings.

Further guidance on the pass-through requirement can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pass-through-requirements-for-energy-price-support-provided-to-intermediaries/guidance-on-the-pass-through-requirements-for-energy-price-support-in-great-britain-provided-to-intermediaries.

Students in purpose-built student accommodation are not eligible to receive support under the scheme. With fixed rental fees set ahead of the academic year, these students have not been exposed to unexpectedly higher energy bill costs this winter.

For students living in university or private halls, businesses, including those providing student accommodation, are covered by the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which provides energy bill relief for non-domestic customers in Great Britain.

The Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide a price reduction to ensure that all businesses and other non-domestic customers, including universities and private purpose-built student accommodation providers, are protected from high energy bills this winter.