Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he has taken to ensure that electricity suppliers have the appropriate information about which homes are not on the gas grid to enable them to make the necessary payments to deliver equivalent support to the Energy Price Guarantee.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government continues to work at speed to determine the most practical and tested routes to deliver this support and will provide more details in due course.
Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has to publish detailed information on how support for off gas-grid homes is equivalent to those on the gas grid benefiting from the Energy Price Guarantee.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The support provided to off-grid households is intended to deliver comparable outcomes to those on gas supported by the Energy Price Guarantee.
Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the support provided to off gas-grid households intended to be equivalent to that provided through the Energy Price Guarantee will equal the price per kWh between natural gas and heating oil or LPG.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The support provided to off-grid households is intended to ensure comparable outcomes to those on gas. It does not seek to create uniform costs per kWh across differing fuel sources which have always had variable price rates.
Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with representatives of (a) Ofgem, (b) the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (GEMA) and (c) Competition and Markets Authority to help ensure protections for consumers off the gas grid from increases in gas prices.
Answered by Greg Hands
Ministers and officials have been in close and regular discussions with Ofgem on gas prices, and Ofgem are keeping their board, GEMA, informed. BEIS and Ofgem officials also maintain regular contact with the CMA on energy markets.
If residents are off the gas grid, but on a default tariff for their electricity only supply, they will still be protected by the Energy Price Cap. The Energy Price Cap saves 15 million households on default tariffs up to £100 a year on average. The level of the price cap is set by Ofgem, the independent regulator.
Providing they are eligible households will also be able to access Warm Home Discount which provides £140 off energy bills over winter. Other energy bill support is available to qualifying households through the Winter Fuel Payment and Cold Weather Payment.
We recognise that some people continue to require extra support, which is why we have introduced a £421 million Household Support Fund to help vulnerable people in England with essential household costs over the winter as the economy recovers.
Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to help protect those consumers who are off the gas grid from increases in energy prices.
Answered by Greg Hands
Customers who are off the gas grid will be protected by the energy price cap if they are on a default tariff with their electricity supplier.
The Government believes it is essential that consumers who are off the gas grid get a fair deal. There are open markets for the supply of heating oil and LPG in the UK as we believe this provides the best long-term guarantee of competitive prices. These markets are subject to UK competition law to ensure they operate efficiently for the consumer.