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Written Question
Energy: Meters
Wednesday 1st February 2023

Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of (a) legislation and (b) regulatory guidance on the forcible installation of prepayment meters by energy suppliers; and whether his Department is taking steps to help tackle the forcible installation of prepayment meters.

Answered by Graham Stuart

Prepayment meters (PPMs) allow customers to pay for energy on a pay-as-you-go basis and serve an important function by helping the avoidance of debt and court action.

Ofgem has stringent rules on the force-fitting of PPMs and has recently published a letter where it outlines steps it will be taking on tackling inappropriate supplier PPM practises including making sure suppliers are complying with those rules, which can be found here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/letter-jonathan-brearley-secretary-state-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy-tackling-inappropriate-energy-supplier-prepayment-meter-practices.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has also asked energy suppliers to commit voluntarily to stop this practice.

Written Question
Energy: Meters
Tuesday 31st January 2023

Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to ban the forcible installation of prepayment meters.

Answered by Graham Stuart

Prepayment meters (PPMs) allow customers to pay for energy on a pay-as-you-go basis and serve an important function by helping the avoidance of debt and court action. A ban on PPM installation as a last resort could lead to an increase in bailiff action and physical disconnections. The Government has no plans to remove this option.

Ofgem has stringent rules on the force-fitting of PPMs. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has written to Ofgem asking them to conduct a review to make sure energy suppliers are complying with those rules. He has also asked suppliers to commit voluntarily to stop this practice.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 28 Feb 2022
Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime

"What the Secretary of State is proposing on a property register sounds very weak and very slow. There are billions in dirty money circulating on the London property market behind shell companies. By the time he has identified corrupt owners, the properties will probably have already been transferred. He also …..."
Andy Slaughter - View Speech

View all Andy Slaughter (Lab - Hammersmith and Chiswick) contributions to the debate on: Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 26 Jan 2022
Economic Crime: Planned Government Bill

"The lawfare debate, which the Minister described as “interesting”, identified how money launderers use UK courts to cover up unlawful activity, so the term that he has used is a slight underestimate. The Minister responding to that debate said:

“the Government are poised to act.”—[Official Report, 20 …..."
Andy Slaughter - View Speech

View all Andy Slaughter (Lab - Hammersmith and Chiswick) contributions to the debate on: Economic Crime: Planned Government Bill
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 19 Oct 2021
Post Office Closures

"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this morning, Mr Betts. You paid tribute earlier to Sir David in another of his roles here, and it occurred to me as you were doing so that this is exactly the sort of debate he would have loved, because it …..."
Andy Slaughter - View Speech

View all Andy Slaughter (Lab - Hammersmith and Chiswick) contributions to the debate on: Post Office Closures
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 19 Oct 2021
Post Office Closures

"I am listening very carefully to what the Minister says, but how does he explain the circumstances that I set out? I have just totted up in my head—I have half the number of branches open that the Post Office thinks should be open. I have six open, five temporarily …..."
Andy Slaughter - View Speech

View all Andy Slaughter (Lab - Hammersmith and Chiswick) contributions to the debate on: Post Office Closures
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 07 Jun 2021
Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill

"I wish to speak in support of amendments 14 and 8 in relation to bringing ARIA within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act. It seems extraordinary to me that there is an exclusion for a body of this kind, although, to be honest, I have a long-standing interest …..."
Andy Slaughter - View Speech

View all Andy Slaughter (Lab - Hammersmith and Chiswick) contributions to the debate on: Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 21 Jul 2020
Oral Answers to Questions

" What steps he is taking to help the events sector recover from the covid-19 pandemic. ..."
Andy Slaughter - View Speech

View all Andy Slaughter (Lab - Hammersmith and Chiswick) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 21 Jul 2020
Oral Answers to Questions

"The Government are really missing the point on this. The thing about events, meetings, conferences, exhibitions and wedding receptions is that they are organised and regulated, and yet they are more constrained at the moment than pubs and restaurants. Rather than talk about pilots and permitted venues that are not …..."
Andy Slaughter - View Speech

View all Andy Slaughter (Lab - Hammersmith and Chiswick) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Written Question
Celsa Steel UK: Coronavirus
Friday 17th July 2020

Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish the terms of the bailout loan provided to Celsa Steel, including (a) the detail of the conditions applied on (i) jobs, (ii) climate, (iii) governance and (iv) tax, (b) how those conditions are legally binding, (c) the steps the Government plans take to monitor compliance with those conditions and (d) what options the Government has available to it and will take if those conditions are not met.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

As set out in my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement on 2 July, the details of the loan to Celsa UK are subject to commercial confidentiality.

The loan has been designed to benefit the workforce, business, and wider society. This will ensure that public money is used to further benefit the UK, including protecting over 1,000 jobs. The loan requires further financial commitments from shareholders and existing lenders and will be monitored by the Government in line with HM Treasury’s rules on ‘Managing Public Money’.