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 make an estimate of the number of households that have been visited by (a) debt collectors and (b) bailiffs due to the non-payment of energy bills in the last 12 months; and whether his Department is taking steps to monitor trends in this data.

The Government and the independent regulator, Ofgem, do not collect data about actions on individual customer accounts. The Government introduced the ‘Breathing Space’ scheme which aims to address consumers’ ability to tackle debt and offers legal protections from creditors for 60 days. Under Ofgem rules, energy companies must set appropriate repayment plans based on a customer’s ability to pay, for those at risk of or in debt.