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, how many homes in Wales are waiting for rectification of work carried out under the ECO4 Scheme by Consumer Energy Solutions.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are working with MCS and certification bodies to determine the number of homes in Wales awaiting remediation of work carried out by Consumer Energy Solutions under ECO4.
Ministers have been clear that no household should be asked to pay to fix work that is non‑compliant through no fault of their own. Where issues are identified, the installer responsible is expected to put them right. Where an installer has ceased trading or fails to remediate, households should contact their relevant guarantee provider to access the protections of their guarantee. Further advice will be provided to affected households shortly.
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 steps his Department is taking to help protect jobs and retain skills across Wales, in the context of the time taken to announce the Warm Homes Plan.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Government is committed to supporting businesses to transition to new opportunities in the sector, including exploring options to support the supply chain to transition from ECO and GBIS to capital scheme delivery.
The Warm Homes Plan, due to be published soon, will set out government’s plans to invest nearly £15 billion to upgrade low‑income homes and scale clean home‑energy technologies. The number of UK jobs supported in clean energy industries and their supply chains is estimated to increase from around 440,000 today to around 860,000 by 2030 and we are working closely with the sector to support its growth.
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 proportion of the funding allocated to the Warm Homes Plan in the (a) Spending Review and (b) 2025 Autumn Budget has been assigned to Wales.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
To ensure the bill savings from the transition to clean energy technologies are felt in all parts of the country, the different needs and approaches of the Devolved Governments will need to be recognised. The UK Government will continue to work closely with the Welsh Government and will publish the Warm Homes Plan soon.
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 steps he has taken to address fraud by companies in the ECO4 scheme since the publication of the National Audit Office investigation into the performance of ECO in October 2025.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
For existing schemes, we work with Ofgem, TrustMark and energy suppliers to detect, prevent and deter fraud. When Ofgem is notified of suspected fraud, they engage with suppliers, Action Fraud and the Serious Fraud Office to ensure robust investigation.
We are taking on board the lessons identified by the NAO, embedding these into our future consumer protection systems, and applying relevant lessons from grant-funded programmes as part of our revised approach to assurance in all retrofit schemes. We have increased departmental oversight of consumer levy funded schemes and will publish an updated Accounting Officer statement with our 2025-26 annual report.
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 conducting a government inquiry into the installation of air source heatpumps and solar panels within the ECO4 scheme.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
ECO4 has played a part in delivering clean heat technologies; however, issues identified by the NAO and PAC support a shift to a more direct, publicly-funded approach focused on technologies that cut bills and accelerate the transition to clean heat such as heat pumps, solar PV and batteries. The government is providing an additional £1.5 billion—taking planned capital investment to almost £15 billion—to upgrade low‑income homes and scale clean home‑energy technologies. Deployment will be further supported through wider policies and details of this will be set out soon in the Warm Homes Plan.
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 safeguards are being established to protect people who are waiting for rectification of work carried out under the ECO 4 Scheme by Consumer Energy Solutions following the company entering administration.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
All completed installations under ECO4 and GBIS are covered by a guarantee. Consumers should approach their guarantee provider for support within the bounds of their policy. We are actively and urgently working with Trustmark, MCS and scheme providers to consider how best to support recipients of CES’ work. We will provide further advice as soon as possible. No household should be asked to pay to rectify non-compliant works.
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 plans to extend Ofgem’s regulatory powers to cover all off‑grid domestic heating fuels.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has no current plans to extend the licensing by Ofgem of gas and electricity operators to the supply of off-grid heating fuels, such as fuel oils, bottled gas or coal and wood products. However, Ofgem and the Competition and Markets Authority have powers to enforce the rights of consumers under consumer law, such as the Consumer Rights Act.
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.