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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the impact of the increases in the cost of living on the number of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England that have fallen into arrears with their energy supplier; and what (i) financial and (ii) other steps his Department is taking to assist households in those areas with rising energy prices.

The Government is aware of the impact increases in the cost of living is having on households across the country. Ofgem’s latest data shows the number of domestic customers repaying a debt to their energy supplier at the end of Q1 2022 was 1,029,000 for electricity and 786,000 for gas. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/search/data-charts?keyword=consumer%20debt.

From 1 October, a new Energy Price Guarantee will mean a typical UK household will, on average, pay no more than £2,500 a year on its energy bill for the next two years. This is in addition to the support the Government announced earlier this year, which includes the £400 rebate via the Energy Bills Support Scheme, a one-off £300 payment for pensioners, a one-off £650 payment for those on means-tested benefits and a one-off £150 payment for the disabled.