Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to issue the £100 Alternative Fuel Payment to households who are not on the mains gas grid.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has doubled support to £200 for alternatively fuelled households, in recognition of the pressures caused by rising fuel costs. The Government is committed to delivering this payment to households as soon as possible this Winter. The Government will announce further information on the delivery and timing of these payments in due course.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether there is a minimum unit price at which the UK Government’s Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Fund will be applied to those paying aggregated bills, including park home residents who do not have a direct relationship with an energy supplier.
Answered by Graham Stuart
There is no minimum unit price for the Alternative Funding. It will provide equivalent support of £400 for the small percentage of households who are not reached through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, including those who do not have a direct relationship with an electricity supplier.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that all eligible households receive the £100 Alternative Fuel Payment from their electricity providers.
Answered by Graham Stuart
A Direction-based approach has been used successfully to deliver the Energy Bill Support Scheme via energy suppliers in Great Britain. As such, the Government is confident it can be used to deliver further support schemes like the Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) scheme.
Clause 22 of The Energy Prices Bill 2022 gives power to the Secretary of State to give directions to a person who holds an energy licence. It will allow the Secretary of State to set out the necessary requirements for relevant energy licence holders to deliver energy support schemes including AFP.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
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 to provide additional financial support with energy bills for charity children’s hospices including Children’s Hospices Across Scotland, in the context of rising energy bills.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) will be in place from 1 October 2022 until April 2023 to support non-domestic energy customers in Great Britain.
The Government has committed to carrying out a review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme to inform decisions on future support after March 2023. Over the course of the review, the Government will be engaging widely to understand those who are most in need of further support. The findings of the review will be published by the end of the year.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
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 implications for his policies of OFGEM's revocation of UK licences to (a) GAZPROM, (b) WINGAS GmbH and (c) other subsidiaries of GAZPROM.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Revocation of licences is a matter for Ofgem, as the independent regulator.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of homes in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland that rely primarily on heating oil as a heating energy source.
Answered by Graham Stuart
There are circa 1.7m UK households that rely on heating oil (5% of UK households). Recent figures on the proportion of households with oil primary heating systems show that this is 3.2% in England, 5% in Scotland, 10% in Wales and 68% in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether CF Fertilisers UK Ltd is in receipt of subsidies for maintaining production of CO2 for use in the food and drink industry.
Answered by Lee Rowley
No, CF Fertilisers UK Ltd is not currently in receipt of a Government subsidy to maintain production of CO2. A market-led agreement to supply CO2 is in place.