Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that residents of a property that uses combined domestic and commercial energy supplies under a business tariff will receive energy bill support for the domestic element of their energy use.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Where a commercial contract is used to provide energy in a building that is also used for residential use, support under the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) applies to all energy use in the property. EBRS provides a discount on the wholesale portion of the unit price for gas and electricity to ensure that eligible businesses and other non-domestic customers are protected from excessively high energy bills over the winter period. This support under the EBRS is comparable to the wholesale element of the Energy Price Guarantee for households.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 (a) mechanism and (b) date by which those in homes off the gas grid will be able to access the support announced by the Chancellor.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) will be delivered via electricity bills, under a similar delivery model to the Energy Bills Support Scheme. Eligible households will receive payment this winter. Further details on the timing and delivery of these payments will be announced in due course.
Households that are eligible for the payment, but do not receive it directly, because they do not have a relationship with an electricity supplier for example, will receive the £200 via the AFP Alternative Fund which will be provided by a designated body. The Government will confirm details of the AFP Alternative Fund shortly.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure off-grid homes are protected by the energy price cap.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Households not on standard gas or electricity contracts, such as those off-grid, will receive equivalent support to that provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, and the Energy Price Guarantee. The Government is working at pace to determine the most practical and tested routes to deliver this support. As part of this, for households who do not use gas for domestic heating, the Government has committed to provide an additional payment of £100 to compensate for the rising costs of other fuels such as heating oil.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support off-grid (a) homeowners and (b) businesses with rising energy bills.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Alternative Fuel Payment will provide £100 to support households, who do not use mains gas for heating, with the rising price of fuel this winter in addition to a number of other government support schemes.
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide a price reduction to ensure that all businesses and other non-domestic customers are protected from excessively high energy bills over the winter period. Eligible non-domestic customers do not need to take action or apply to the scheme – support will automatically be applied to bills.