Asked by: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what competition measures will be promoted in the forthcoming auction of 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz spectrum in order to secure improved mobile coverage in rural areas.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Ofcom with conduct all forthcoming spectrum auctions in line with their published competition objectives, which can be found here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2016/ofcom-outlines-rules-for-mobile-spectrum-auction.
Asked by: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on the forthcoming auction of 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz radio spectrum; and whether those discussions have covered the possibility of introducing a 30 per cent cap on spectrum holdings.
Answered by Rob Wilson
Ofcom is responsible for spectrum allocation, in line with its statutory duties. Ofcom is currently consulting on competition measures for the 2.3/3.4GHz auction. This will ensure that the UK continues to benefit from a competitive mobile market.
Asked by: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential improvements to mobile coverage resulting from imposing a 30 per cent cap on radio spectrum holdings in (a) Wales and (b) Montgomeryshire.
Answered by Rob Wilson
Ofcom is responsible for spectrum allocation, in line with its statutory duties. Ofcom is currently consulting on competition measures for the 2.3/3.4GHz auction. This will ensure that the UK continues to benefit from a competitive mobile market.
Asked by: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of Warm Home Discount recipients whose energy is supplied by (a) British Gas, (b) EDF, (c) EON, (d) nPower, (e) Scottish Power, (e) SSE and (f) all six firms are on their supplier's standard variable tariff.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Ofgem collect data on the number of Warm Home Discount recipients; the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy collect data from the energy companies on the type of tariff that their customers are on. These two data sources cannot be combined, and for this reason it is not possible to provide the proportion of Warm home Discount recipients that are on their supplier’s standard variable tariff.
The total number of customers that received the Warm Home discount in 2015/16 was 1,350,403 within the core group as well as further 836,201 to those eligible under the broad group. This data is published by Ofgem in their Annual report online (https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2016/11/whd_annual_report_sy5_final_for_publication_0.pdf). The number given by each of the companies listed is given below. Please note, this will not sum to the total number of rebates as the whole scheme includes small suppliers as well:
Company | Number of Rebates |
British Gas | 700,400 |
EDF | 236,700 |
E.on | 357,000 |
Npower | 208,300 |
Scottish Power | 215,100 |
SSE | 366,800 |
All 6 companies | 2,084,000 |
The proportion of customers on standard tariffs is collected by BEIS in confidence and as such specific company data cannot be provided. Of all domestic customers, in quarter 2 2016, 69 per cent of standard electricity and 67 per cent of gas customers were on variable tariffs. These figures are published as part of our Quarterly Energy Prices publication and can be found in Tables 2.4.2 and 2.5.2 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/annual-domestic-energy-price-statistics).
Asked by: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many times per year and in what format customers of (a) British Gas, (b) EDF, (c) EON, (d) nPower, (e) Scottish Power and (f) SSE who are on standard variable tariffs receive Supplier Cheapest Tariff information.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Ofgem’s regulations state that energy suppliers must provide information on any alternative cheaper tariffs that they offer, on the front page of every customers’ energy bills and annual statements and on notification of increase in charges.
Asked by: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what additional written communications each of the Big Six energy companies give to recipients of the Warm Home Discount to support them in switching to the lowest priced energy tariffs; and whether the provision of such communication is monitored by Ofgem.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Energy suppliers must include on bills and other communications to domestic customers information about the savings they can make by moving to their supplier’s cheapest tariff.
Suppliers are not required to provide any additional written communications to recipients of the Warm Home Discount scheme concerning switching to the lower tariff, and Ofgem does not monitor suppliers’ tariff communications with scheme recipients.
Asked by: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of Cold Weather Payment recipients whose energy is supplied by (a) British Gas, (b) EDF, (c) EON, (d) nPower, (e) Scottish Power, (f) SSE and (g) all Big Six companies are on their supplier's standard variable tariff.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) does not collect or hold data on those who receive Cold Weather Payments. BEIS collects data from energy suppliers regarding the tariff that customers are on as part of the Domestic Fuel Inquiry. The tariff data is collected from the energy suppliers in confidence; As such we cannot provide figures for specific companies. In quarter 2 2016, 69 per cent of domestic standard electricity customers were on a variable tariff. For domestic gas customers, 67 per cent were on a variable tariff. This data is published as part of our Quarterly Energy Prices publication which can be found in tables 2.4.2 and 2.5.2 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/annual-domestic-energy-price-statistics ).
Asked by: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of customers of the Big Six energy companies have been on their supplier's standard variable tariff for each year from 2006 to 2016.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government wants to see energy companies treating all of their customers fairly, including those on Standard Variable tariffs, not just those who switch.
The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) collects data, including customers’ tariff information, from energy companies as part of the domestic fuels inquiry (DFI). In the second quarter of 2016, 69 per cent of domestic standard electricity customers and 67 per cent of domestic gas customers were on variable tariffs. This data is published within our Quarterly Energy Prices publication and can be found in Tables 2.4.2 and 2.5.2 which is available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/annual-domestic-energy-price-statistics.
BEIS started collecting this data at the end of 2012; therefore annual data is available for 2013 onwards. These figures are based on the DFI which covers around 85 per cent of the market. This includes all of the big 6 energy suppliers, Northern Ireland suppliers and one smaller supplier. The proportion of customers on variable tariffs, including standard variable tariffs, is as follows:
| Standard Electricity | Gas |
2013 | 81 | 79 |
2014 | 75 | 73 |
2015 | 73 | 70 |
Asked by: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of domestic energy consumers switched tariff in each of the last three years; and what proportion of those consumers were switching from standard variable tariffs to fixed rate tariffs.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Data is published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on switching. The data is collected by Ofgem and republished by BEIS in Table 2.7.1 of which can be found online (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/quarterly-domestic-energy-switching-statistics ).
The number of domestic energy supplier switches as a proportion of total customer numbers in Great Britain is as follows:
Year | Proportion of electricity customers switching supplier | Proportion of gas customers switching supplier |
2013 | 12% | 10% |
2014 | 11% | 10% |
2015 | 12% | 12% |
This is calculated by combining all switches made within the year, divided by the total domestic customers. Multiple switches made by the same customer within each year are counted as separate switches. The number of customer switching from standard variable to fixed rate tariffs is not collected or held by BEIS.
Asked by: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many domestic consumers whose energy was supplied by one of the Big Six suppliers and who were on a standard variable tariff switched tariff (a) with the same supplier and (b) to a new supplier in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy collect data on the type of tariff which customers are on for the big six energy suppliers as part of our domestic fuels inquiry. We do not collect or hold data for customers and therefore cannot identify how long a customer has been with the same supplier or which customers have moved to a new supplier.