Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate he has made of average debt levels of customers in debt to their energy supplier for (a) electricity and (b) gas in each of the last 10 years.

Ofgem monitors and publishes information about the average level of debt that domestic customers owe for their gas and electricity supplies in its Social Obligations Annual Reports:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/about-us/how-we-work/working-consumers/supplier-performance-social-obligations.

The table below shows the average level of debt for domestic customers with a repayment arrangement agreed with their supplier for 2005 to 2012. Ofgem did not publish data on the average level of debt for 2003 and 2004. Data for 2013 is not yet available.

Average debt levels for both electricity and gas are falling, having risen significantly from 2007-2010.