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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Government plans to implement proposals for households to switch automatically onto the cheapest energy tariffs.

The Government is committed to a competitive retail energy market, which delivers choice and value for money for customers. When we came to office in 2010 the number of suppliers had fallen to just six, which meant that market competition was seen to be insufficient.

We want to ensure the market can facilitate competition and helping households on more expensive tariffs make energy savings. We will undertake extensive qualitative research and testing to understand how consumers might experience and respond to the intervention.