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 disabled people with high energy costs.

The Government provides £140 a year for over 2 million low income households through the Warm Home Discount, between £100-£300 a year for pensioners through Winter Fuel Payments, and £25 a week for low income and vulnerable households during a cold snap through Cold Weather Payments.

Households on disability allowance are eligible for Energy Company Obligation (ECO) support if a Local Authority declares them as fuel poor or on a low income and vulnerable to cold, via a flexible eligibility declaration.

Households on pre-payment meters are already protected by a price cap that came into effect in April 2017. Ofgem is committed to extend this to a further one million vulnerable households from 02 Feb 2018 and change the rules to allow customers to roll onto cheaper fixed term deals instead of expensive standard variable tariffs. This will mean that for the first time over 5 million households will be protected this winter.

The Department also provides around £1million funding a year for the Big Energy Saving Network (BESN). This is a joint programme, run with National Energy Action, to fund and train energy champions from third sector organisations. Funded champions deliver face-to-face support to vulnerable energy consumers, including disabled consumers to reduce their energy bills by switching tariffs and/or supplier. BESN has reached over 500,000 vulnerable consumers since 2013.