Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of customers on fixed term energy contracts who entered those contracts before April 2022.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department does not collect this information. Ofgem, the independent industry regulator, publishes information about the number of domestic gas and electricity customers with fixed term energy contracts with each supplier: ofgem.gov.uk/energy-data-and-research/data-portal/retail-market-indicators.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of households have a smart meter in each region of the UK as of 12 October 2022.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government’s official statistics on the proportion of households with smart meters are based on data from energy suppliers and are held for Great Britain only. The Government’s official statistics on the rollout of smart meters are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/smart-meters-statistics.
The rollout is making good progress, with more than half of energy meters in Great Britain now smart. At end June 2022 there were 29.5 million smart and advanced meters in homes and small businesses across Great Britain, including 27.8 million smart meters in domestic properties.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to Answer of 23 September to Question 51406, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the phased approach Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to empower local authorities to think longer term about decarbonisation.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Funding allocations for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme are determined through the Government’s Spending Reviews. These are part of a well-established budgeting framework, carried out approximately every 3 years. This provides certainty for departments, enabling them to plan ahead while balancing the need for spending control and parliamentary oversight. The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is reviewed regularly, including ahead of new phases of the scheme being launched.
The Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund has also made available £61 million of grant funding to empower the public sector, including local authorities, to take a strategic approach to decarbonising their estates.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to take steps with Cabinet colleagues to regularly review the cap on household energy bills so that it reflects any reductions in global energy prices over the next two years.
Answered by Graham Stuart
OFGEM calculates and publishes the price cap, which limits the rates a supplier can charge for their default tariffs. The price cap calculations include consideration of global energy prices and cap levels are currently reviewed on a quarterly basis. The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) scheme then applies a discount to these tariffs. The level of EPG discount will be reviewed quarterly in line with changes to the price cap to ensure that the scheme benefits consumers as intended and reflects any changes in global energy prices.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason his Department sometimes requires (a) energy companies and (b) other trade bodies to sign non-disclosure agreements when discussing energy policy with his Department.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department may make use of non-disclosure agreements when discussing nascent policy proposals that could be market sensitive if more widely disclosed.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, (a) in what way his Department defines ‘sustainable biomass’ and (b) whether that definition takes into account any impact on the health of people living near to the source of the relevant biomass.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government defines sustainable biomass as biomass that is cultivated, harvested and processed in line with our sustainability criteria. The UK has stringent sustainability criteria in place for the power, heat and transport sectors, and supports the use of biomass only where it is demonstrated to be sustainable and deliver genuine greenhouse gas (GHG) savings compared to fossil materials.
The sustainability criteria cover environmental and social aspects, and requires an understanding of the life-cycle GHG emissions including supply chain emissions (transporting, processing etc), biodiversity, ecosystem services (e.g., soil and water quality) and social issues (e.g. land tenure rights, labour rights).
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department will provide equivalent support for heat network customers as if being offered by the domestic price cap freeze for the next 2 years.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government recognises the need to provide support to domestic consumers of heat networks. The Government is working to develop the appropriate mechanism to implement after March. Further details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
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 support households on heat networks who are not covered by the domestic price cap.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has been clear that domestic heat network consumers should expect the same level of support as other domestic energy consumers
Heat network consumers with domestic electricity contracts will receive capped electricity prices through the Energy Price Guarantee, credits of £400 on their electricity bills through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, reduced heat prices via the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and, in addition, will receive £100 delivered through the Alternative Fuels Payment to be established by the Energy Prices Bill. Details of support can be found here.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether heat network customers are included in the £100 additional payment outlined in the Growth Plan 2022, as they will not be eligible to receive support for heating costs through the Energy Price Guarantee.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Households not on standard gas or electricity contracts, such as those on heat networks – and so outside the available support schemes – will receive support equivalent to both the Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bills Support Scheme. The Government is working at pace to determine the most practical and tested routes to deliver this support.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of alternative funding models for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme including introducing a long-term funding across financial years.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Funding allocations for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme are determined as part of the Government’s wider Spending Reviews.
The structure of funding provided through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme was assessed when designing the scheme and is reviewed regularly, including ahead of new phases of the scheme being implemented.
Phase 3a, which opened for applications in October 2021, had a budget of £475m for the first year (Financial Year 2022/23), of which 15% was ring-fenced for multi-year projects. As a result, £80 million has also been committed to these multi-year projects from the 2023/24 and 2024/25 budgets. In the next Phase (3b), the remaining budget for Financial Year 2023/24 will be allocated and, recognising the high demand for multi-year funding, 50% of the remaining funds available in Financial Year 2024/25 will be available. Phase 3b is due to open for applications in October 2022.