Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
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 take steps to include public sector swimming pools within the scope of the energy and trade intensive industries which will receive additional government support with energy bills through the Energy Relief Discount Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
There are currently no plans to review the list of Energy and Trade Intensive Industries eligible for support under the Energy Bill Discount Scheme. The Government has taken a consistent approach to identifying the most energy and trade intensive sectors, with all sectors that meet agreed thresholds for energy and trade intensity eligible for Energy and Trade Intensive Industries support. These thresholds have been set at sectors falling above the 80th percentile for energy intensity and 60th percentile for trade intensity, plus any sectors eligible for the existing energy compensation and exemption schemes.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
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 take steps to prevent the customers of energy suppliers being moved to prepayment arrangements without being consulted.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The energy regulator Ofgem has rules in place that restrict the force-fitting of a prepayment meter on customers who are in debt, except as a last resort.
Suppliers must provide notice of seven days before installing a prepayment meter or changing a smart meter to prepay mode.
Ofgem further rules require energy suppliers to assess whether installing a prepayment meter, including the remote switching of a smart meter, is safe and reasonably practicable for the customer. This assessment should include identifying any vulnerability.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
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 publish a timetable for announcing successful bids in respect of the Second Cluster Sequencing development for the carbon capture, utilisation and storage sector; and if he will make it his policy to allow all credible bids to proceed.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government remains committed to supporting four CCUS clusters to deployment by 2030. Track-2 of the Cluster Sequencing Programme will add further clusters to fulfil this commitment and deliver an additional capture and storage capacity of at least 10Mtpa.
The Government will continue to engage with industry to develop a Track-2 process for future CCUS deployment, building on our experience of sequencing the Track-1 clusters. Details of this process will be brought forward in due course.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
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 take steps to ensure that park home residents receive the full benefit of the support available to households to help meet the rise in the cost of energy.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is aware that not all households have electricity provided through a domestic electricity supply contract, such as mobile home residents. The Government raised this in its technical consultation on the Energy Bills Support Scheme. Households without a domestic electricity supply contract are not eligible for the scheme and the Government is exploring options for other ways in which they might receive similar support. The responses to this consultation are being analysed and a response will be published later in the summer.