Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to reduce energy bills for (a) disabled households and (b) households on low incomes.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Over the last two years, the Government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the most vulnerable with one of the largest support packages in Europe. Taken together, total support between 2022 and 2025 to help households with the cost of living is worth £108 billion – an average of £3,800 per UK household.
The Government is continuing to support those most in need with millions of vulnerable households who have received up to £900 in further Cost of Living Payments, with an extra £150 to those on eligible disability benefits. An extra cost of living payment is being paid to pensioner households worth up to £300 through the Winter Fuel Payment, meaning eligible individuals will receive between £250 - £600.
The Government continues to provide support through the Warm Home Discount, which provides low-income households with an annual £150 rebate off their energy bill every winter.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to help support people who use prepayment meters with increases in the cost of living.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On 25 August, Ofgem announced that from 1 October the prepayment meter (PPM) level of the price cap will decrease by £128 from £2,077 to £1,949 for average dual fuel consumption.
In addition, the Energy Price Guarantee currently aligns costs for comparable PPM and direct debit customers, ensuring that those on PPMs are not paying a premium for their costs.
Ofgem has launched a consultation on levelling the cost of standing charges on prepayment meters which closes on 22 September.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the forced installation of pre-payment meters.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Ofgem, the energy regulator, has developed a Code of Practice to strengthen protections and support for consumers who may be moved onto a prepayment meter involuntarily. This has been agreed with energy suppliers who will be required to demonstrate readiness to implement the Code of Practice.
Ofgem intends for these new protections to be in licence conditions ahead of this winter. Customers remain protected by the current pause on involuntary installations of prepayment meters in the meantime.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department are taking to support consumers who have accumulated energy debt as a result of using pre-payment meters.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Ofgem rules require energy suppliers to provide extra support where appropriate, including an obligation to make emergency and friendly-hours credit available to all pre-payment meter customers. When assessing how a customer will repay any credit offered, suppliers must also consider their ability to pay.
The Government introduced the ‘Breathing Space’ scheme, which aims to address consumers’ ability to tackle debt and offers legal protections from creditors for 60 days. A standard breathing space is available for anyone with problem debt, administered by debt advice providers and local authorities who provide debt advice to residents.
Customers may also be eligible for cost-of-living payments from the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the installation of prepayment meters on trends in the level of energy debt in the last 12 months.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Ofgem works to protect energy consumers. To ensure that their work is informed by the needs of Britain’s energy consumers, they regularly monitor levels of debt and arrears of UK domestic consumers. This is available at https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/debt-and-arrears-indicators
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households have received support through the Alternative Fuel Payment Scheme.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Alternative Fund for the Alternative Fuel Payment, the element which requires an application, launched recently on 6 March and early data is still being collected. Electricity suppliers, who deliver the automatic enrolment element of the scheme, recently provided MPAN-level delivery data to the Government. Transparency data will be published in due course.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to alleviate the impacts of the rising cost of fuel on low income households.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has set up a number of Energy Affordability schemes to support vulnerable people with the cost of their energy bills during the cold weather. The Energy Price Guarantee will save a typical household in Great Britain £900 this Winter. The Energy Bills Support Scheme provided households with £400 non-repayable Government discount paid in instalments to UK households from October 2022 to March 2023. Households using alternative fuels will be also entitled to a £200 Alternative Fuel Payment.
This is in addition to the cost-of-living support package announced in May 2022 of
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the increase in the level of the Energy Price Guarantee in April 2023 on households.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Energy Price Guarantee will continue to ensure all households pay less for their energy bills than they would have otherwise with no Government intervention.
The Government has also announced further support worth £26 billion in 2023-24, to help the most vulnerable households.