Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the migration of smart meters to second generation.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The migration of first-generation (SMETS1) smart meters onto the Data Communications Company (DCC) network is now complete. This means that all SMETS1 smart meters on the DCC network are able to retain smart services upon switching energy suppliers, just as second generation (SMETS2) smart meters do.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent discussions he has had with the Energy Ombudsman on the effectiveness of its dispute resolution process in providing redress for customers.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On 19 June the Government announced that we will consult on strengthening the Energy Ombudsman to ensure that suppliers comply with its final decisions or pay compensation to their customers. We also announced that we would consult on proposals to make referrals to the Ombudsman automatic instead of consumers having to do this themselves, and on waiting time for referrals being cut from 8 weeks to 4 weeks.
The Government is working with Ofgem to look at increasing the value of base-level automatic compensation from £40, following the first increase since the payments were introduced a decade ago.
Ofgem is also looking at expanding automatic compensation to cover more key issues faced by consumers, including excessively long call waiting times, unexpectedly high bills when suppliers fail to adjust their direct debits, suppliers not responding to complaints, or suppliers not complying with Energy Ombudsman final decisions. This will ensure that consumers can get fairer, quicker, and easier compensation when things go wrong.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of devolving powers to license electricity suppliers operating in Wales.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has made no such specific assessment.
A universal service obligation (USO) ensures that every household and small business is supplied, regardless of their location. This prevents suppliers segmenting customers by their profitability. As well as the USO, it should be noted that electricity distribution networks are not constructed along national boundaries - the same networks serve customers either side of the Wales/England border, making it very difficult or impossible to split customers by their location such that different licensing regimes can be introduced.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has had discussions with his Welsh counterpart on the compliance of electricity suppliers operating in Wales with (a) the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 (b) the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular meetings with Welsh Government ministers on a range of issues.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, which Minister is responsible for non-power generating nuclear facilities used for (a) research and (b) the production of healthcare-related materials.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As interim Minister for nuclear, I am responsible for the regulation of non-power generating nuclear facilities for civil nuclear fission research and development within DESNZ. Other Departments may hold responsibility for non-power generating nuclear facilities depending on the use case. The responsibility for the production of healthcare-related materials sits with the Department of Health and Social Care.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues about the development of a nuclear facility to produce radionuclides for use in healthcare.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets regularly with Cabinet colleagues to discuss a range of issues.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what her planned timetable is for the switch off of the Radio Teleswitch Service in each Welsh local authority area.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) signal will be switched off in carefully targeted local areas, where suppliers are ready to respond quickly in case of any issues, starting from 30 June.
Industry’s phase out plan will be flexible and subject to change, and therefore will not be published, as suppliers must demonstrate to Ofgem and Government that they are sufficiently prepared before they can proceed. Households will be contacted by their energy suppliers through multiple methods of communication to inform them well ahead of time of any phase out activity in their area. Ofgem will also contact local authorities to inform them of planned activity in their area in advance of any switch off.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department has made of the potential changes in the level of the average annual cost of electricity for people leaving the Radio Teleswitch Service.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Ofgem has consulted on plans to ensure that suppliers must take all reasonable steps to provide an energy tariff that leaves all their customers ‘no worse off’ than before once their RTS meter is replaced. Ofgem will make further announcements on this in due course.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an estimate of the number of radio teleswitch service meters in use in (a) Wales, (b) Gwynedd and (c) Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Most recent figures provided to the Department from Ofgem indicates that as of 2nd May there were c.9,500 RTS meters remaining in Wales.
Ofgem does not collect constituency level data on RTS meters from suppliers.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment has he made of the accuracy of the list of RTS Switch off Identified Properties for properties in Gwynedd which have storage heaters as their primary source of heating.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department is not aware of a list of RTS properties that separately identifies premises with and without storage heaters.