Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Oral Answers to Questions

Liz McInnes Excerpts
Thursday 24th March 2016

(8 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Colleen Fletcher Portrait Colleen Fletcher (Coventry North East) (Lab)
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1. What steps she plans to take to reduce energy prices for indebted prepayment customers.

Liz McInnes Portrait Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)
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4. What steps she plans to take to reduce energy prices for indebted prepayment customers.

Dawn Butler Portrait Dawn Butler (Brent Central) (Lab)
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9. What steps she plans to take to reduce energy prices for indebted prepayment customers.

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Amber Rudd Portrait Amber Rudd
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I share the hon. Lady’s support for the CMA’s proposal for the most vulnerable customers, a larger proportion of whom are on prepayment meters, and we welcome that approach to ensure that we look after those people. On smart meters, while some energy companies are prioritising prepayment meters, we are not obliging them to do so because the roll-out of smart meters is so inherently important to managing people’s bills.

Liz McInnes Portrait Liz McInnes
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Will the Secretary of State tell the House, so that I may inform the 9,255 of my constituents who have prepayment meters, why her Department will not bring forward its fuel poverty strategy for another two years?

Amber Rudd Portrait Amber Rudd
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The Department and the Government take fuel poverty very seriously and we take steps to address that issue. We are reforming the renewable heat incentive and the energy company obligation to focus more on those most in need, who are those in fuel poverty. I ask the hon. Lady to reassure her constituents that we are absolutely committed to doing that and that we will continue to address the issue.