Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of fuel poverty in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the rising cost of living on levels of fuel poverty in each of those areas.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The latest official sub-regional statistics for 2021 (published 27th April 2023) indicate that there were 5,471 (12.8%) households in fuel poverty in Enfield North constituency, and 17,591 (13.8%) in the London Borough of Enfield. The latest official statistics for 2022 (published 28th February 2023) show 471,000 (13.2%) fuel poor households in London. The Government has not made any further assessment of trends in fuel poverty in these areas.
Energy efficiency is the best way to tackle fuel poverty in the long term. Financial support is also important and is available through established schemes including the Warm Home Discount.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding payments were awarded by type of accommodation in (i) Enfield North constituency, (ii) the London Borough of Enfield and (iii) London.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government has not yet published the application figures per local authority or parliamentary constituency area for the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding but this will be published in the autumn. However, the data does not break down to the level of type of accommodation. This is because most of the figures would be too low for accommodation types at constituency and local authority level and so the data would be disclosive.
The latest publication on GOV.UK outlines the number of households in London who received support through this scheme, as of 29 June 2023 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-support-scheme-alternative-fund-gb-ni-and-alternative-fuel-payment-alternative-fund-applications-made-by-customers.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households (a) were eligible for, (b) made an application for and (c) received an Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding payment in (i) Enfield North constituency, (ii) the London Borough of Enfield and (iii) London.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The government has not yet published data on the number of households that applied or received funding through the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding per local authority or parliamentary constituency. This data will be provided in our next publication this autumn. The latest publication on the number of applications for the scheme can be found on GOV.UK - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-support-scheme-alternative-fund-gb-ni-and-alternative-fuel-payment-alternative-fund-applications-made-by-customers.
We estimate that were approximately 97,700 households in London and 2,900 households located in the Enfield council area who were eligible for the scheme.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department has made of the number of families in fuel poverty living in Enfield North constituency.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The latest statistics for the number of households in fuel poverty in parliamentary constituencies in England can be found in the published sub-regional fuel poverty Official Statistics.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of households in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London that have fallen into arrears with their energy bill payments in the last (a) six and (b) 12 months.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government does not hold this information.
Ofgem publishes statistics on energy debt and arrears which can be found at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/debt-and-arrears-indicators.
The Government introduced the ‘Breathing Space’ scheme which aims to address the ability of consumers to tackle debt and offers legal protections from creditors for 60 days. Under Ofgem rules, energy companies must set appropriate repayment plans based on a customer’s ability to pay for those at risk of, or in, debt.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when he plans to respond to the letter of 8 March 2023 from the hon. Member for Enfield North on energy support for businesses.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department aims to respond where possible, to correspondence within 15 working days.
I will write to the Hon. Member shortly about energy support for businesses.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much support has been provided to (a) the NHS and (b) NHS trusts under the Energy Bills Relief Scheme in 2023.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) provides a discount on the wholesale element of gas and electricity bills to ensure all eligible customers, including the NHS and NHS trusts, who buy energy from licensed suppliers, are protected from excessively high energy costs over the winter period.
The EBRS discount is applied directly to the energy bills of eligible customers, including the NHS and NHS trusts by their energy providers and therefore we do not have a breakdown of support received by location or sector. The new Energy Bill Discount Scheme (EBDS) will run from April 2023 until March 2024 and continue to provide a discount to eligible NHS trusts.