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 the Government agreement with Octopus Energy to take over Bulb Energy includes the sale of Bulb Energy's parent company Simple Energy Ltd.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The agreement with Octopus Energy to acquire Bulb does not include the sale of the parent company.
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 the cost to the public purse has been of Government support for Bulb Energy since November 2021.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The administrators published their six-monthly progress report in June 2022, as per their statutory obligation. This showed that £901m of funding had been drawn down under their funding agreement with BEIS. The Special Administrators of Bulb are required by law to keep costs as low as possible and government continue to engage closely to ensure maximum value for money for taxpayers.
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 assessment he has made of the potential merits of allocating a dedicated radio spectrum to utilities networks.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As set out in the March 22 Spectrum Roadmap, https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/234633/spectrum-roadmap.pdf, Ofcom (who are responsible for spectrum allocation decisions) is undertaking a review of the role of spectrum in supporting utilities networks, with the goal of developing a strategy to support the changing wireless operational communication needs of the Energy (Electricity and Gas) and Water sectors. BEIS and DCMS are actively engaged with Ofcom on this review, and BEIS are commissioning various studies into the communication requirements of the energy sector.
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 his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring energy companies to ringfence the credit balances of their customers to ensure that those balances are not lost in the event of an insolvency.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Ofgem, as the independent regulator of Great Britain gas and electricity markets examines ways to mitigate the impact of energy supplier insolvencies on consumers.
In June 2022, Ofgem published a consultation on options for protecting customer credit balances including ringfencing a proportion of credit balances, with the intention of a statutory consultation to follow.
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 financial support the Government is providing to support Octopus Energy in its takeover of Bulb Energy.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The terms of the agreement are commercially sensitive and will not be published.
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 much Octopus Energy is paying the Government to take over Bulb Energy.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The terms of the agreement are commercially sensitive and will not be published.
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 former customers of Bulb will face future charges to their energy bills as and when Octopus Energy is required to repay financial support provided to it by the Government for the transition of customers from Bulb.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The special administrators of Bulb will remain in place until the repayable funding has been received from Octopus. The Government has the option to recoup other costs through the shortfall recovery mechanism which would see a levy charged on energy suppliers
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 publish details of Ofgem’s assessment of the transfer of Bulb’s customers to Octopus.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Ofgem is an independent regulator and publication of their assessments is a matter for them.
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 the Competition and Markets Authority will be carrying out an assessment of market competition following the transfer of 1.5 million customers from Bulb to Octopus Energy, announced by his Department on 29 October 2022.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is an independent non-ministerial department and determines any investigations it undertakes.
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) whether his Department has assessed the extent to which Defra’s proposed land use framework will utilise (i) nature-based carbon sequestration and (ii) bioenergy with carbon capture & storage technology (BECCS) to meet net zero targets; and (b) if he will publish modelling of the relative cost of meeting the UK’s 4th, 5th and 6th carbon budgets using different ratios of nature restoration and BECCS.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Food Strategy stated that the Government will publish a Land Use Framework for England in 2023. This will set out principles to ensure food security is balanced alongside climate and environment outcomes. The Government is seeking to make the best use of the limited supply of land in England.
The Government’s approach to bioenergy with carbon capture and storage will be set out in the forthcoming biomass strategy.
The Net Zero Strategy set out a range of pathways to reaching net zero, and BEIS and Defra are working together to understand the interaction between our policies.