Asked by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering To ask Her Majesty’s
Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of
households in fuel poverty; and what steps they are taking to
address this. Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con) My Lords, I beg
leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper,
and I refer to my interest in the register as president of National
Energy Action. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,
Department for...Request free trial
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the numbers of households in fuel poverty; and what steps they
are taking to address this.
(Con)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on
the Order Paper, and I refer to my interest in the register as
president of National Energy Action.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy () (Con)
My Lords, in our latest official projection, there would be an
estimated 3.03 million households in England in fuel poverty in
2022, according to the low-income, low-energy efficiency
definition. The Sustainable Warmth strategy, published in
February 2021, details our approach to tackling fuel poverty in
England. Energy efficiency remains the best way to tackle fuel
poverty in the long term, reducing the amount of energy required
to heat a home and contributing to lower energy bills and of
course, carbon emissions.
(Con)
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. The figure used by the
NEA is 6.5 million households in fuel poverty. Of course, that
figure would have been substantially higher had it not been for
the generous measures given by the Government in late May of this
year. Does my noble friend recognise that there is now another
type of fuel poverty, and that is the fact that it is costing
£100 to fill the tank of an average family car? In those
circumstances, does he accept it is causing real hardship in
rural areas, and particularly for carers travelling between their
clients? Will the Government, as a matter of urgency, reduce the
VAT of 20% on fuel and the 57% fuel duty and make sure that is
passed on to the forecourts?
(Con)
I totally understand the points that my noble friend is making,
and the Chancellor has, of course, already reduced fuel duty.
Domestic fuels, such as gas and electricity, are already subject
to the reduced rate of 5% VAT. Going further, I would not
guarantee that prices would fall, given that most of the price
rises are driven by a number of factors that can be seen
worldwide. The other problem is that cutting VAT would also be a
tax cut for everyone, including wealthier people in society.
(LD)
My Lords, among the most vulnerable groups are park home
owners—some 85,000 of them—whose energy supply is often
controlled by landlords. These are often, I regret to say, rogue
landlords. How will the Minister guarantee that those park home
residents will be able to take advantage of the Government’s
rebate schemes and the various other things to alleviate energy
prices over the next few months?
(Con)
The noble Lord makes a very good point, and that is one of the
aspects we are looking at—indirect suppliers through the
consultations that we are holding on the various support schemes.
I also point out that park home owners are already benefiting
from a number of our energy-efficiency improvements, and there
have some excellent examples of retrofitting park homes that have
been carried out under schemes such as the local authority
delivery energy efficiency scheme.
(Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister think it rather peculiar that old
people like myself get 200 quid a year for fuel, which is really
not needed? Should there be a way of means testing the amount of
money that is given to people like me?
(Con)
It is very generous of the noble Lord to offer to give it up, but
of course the point he makes is valid. It is a combination of the
expense and bureaucracy of means-testing schemes as against the
universality principle, but the vast majority of support schemes,
of course, are means tested and focused on those in receipt of
benefits and on the lowest incomes, and that also applies to all
our energy efficiency schemes.
(Con)
My Lords, I declare energy interests as in the register. Does my
noble friend accept that by far the largest driver behind these
hideous energy and fuel prices, with more apparently to come,
which are really damaging and frightening millions of households,
would be tackled if there could be far more oil and gas pumped
into short-term world markets to bring down the price of oil,
petrol, gas and electricity very quickly indeed? Some of us would
really like to see evidence of more co-ordinated vigour and
diplomacy in international markets in driving down these prices.
Something can be done. Could we see more effort in that
direction, please?
(Con)
My noble friend makes a very good point. There is a lot of
diplomatic action going on with organisations such as OPEC,
precisely in the terms that he alludes to. We are also, of
course, attempting to produce as much oil and gas as we can from
our existing British North Sea fields as well.
(Lab)
My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the National Housing
Federation. Some 150,000 housing association residents currently
have their heating and hot water delivered via communal or
district heat networks. Can the Minister confirm that the
Government will make the £400 energy grant available to residents
on heat networks, who have seen some of the largest fuel price
increases in the country?
(Con)
The noble Baroness makes a very good point. Heat networks are
another of the difficult areas we need to address as part of the
consultation we are doing. I also point out that we are, of
course, taking powers to regulate heat networks, which are
currently unregulated, in the forthcoming energy Bill, because it
is an area that we need to expand in this country and there is no
protection for those residents currently on heat networks, either
in housing associations or in the private sector.
(LD)
My Lords, the Minister knows that, in fact, as he stated, very
little of our gas, for example, comes from the world market, yet
it is the world market price for gas that is driving up the cost
of fuel and energy, in terms of electricity, for our citizens. Is
there not a case for reviewing how the basket of electricity is
costed, so that it actually reflects the cost of generation more
effectively in this country, rather than it being driven by the
highest marginal cost of gas?
(Con)
The noble Lord is partially right. Of course, 40% of our gas
supplies come from our own domestic production. We get quite a
bit from the world market through Norway and quite a bit from LNG
as well, so we are, of course, subject to world market
fluctuations. But there is a lot of validity in the points that
he has made.
(Lab)
My Lords, the government figures are out of date. The chairman of
NEA is right: 6.2 million households is nearer the figure than
the 3.2 million that the Minister referred to. The pressures of
doubling fuel prices on top of this trend will continue to worry
householders across the country. In 2015, the Government
estimated it would take until 2030—another eight years from
now—to end fuel poverty, but on current figures it will take more
than 60 years. What new measures are the Government proposing to
ensure they get back on track to meet their original deadline of
zero fuel poverty by 2030?
(Con)
The figures that the noble Lord quotes are, of course, using
different metrics. There is a big debate about which is the
appropriate metric to use, but we can all accept, whatever metric
we use, that this a very difficult time and people are suffering.
The best route to end fuel poverty is through energy-efficiency
measures, and that is why we are spending £6.6 billion this year
in precisely targeting energy-efficiency measures—home
improvements, retrofits—towards those in society on the lowest
incomes, but of course we will need to do more.
(GP)
My Lords, the Government’s windfall tax was clearly very good,
because it helped householders pay their bills, but at the same
time that money went into profits for the oil and gas companies.
The Minister talks about sustainable homes, retrofit and so on,
but actually the Government are not putting enough into this, and
I wonder whether government policy is influenced by the fact that
the Conservative Party gets donations from the oil and gas
sector.
(Con)
The windfall tax is taking profits off the oil and gas industry,
as the noble Baroness refers to, but as I just mentioned in a
previous answer—
(GP)
It is not enough.
(Con)
The noble Baroness says that this is not enough, but of course,
we also need many of those companies to continue to invest both
in North Sea production and in renewable production. If we are
going to move to the totally renewable power system that I am
sure the noble Baroness wants to see, as I do, we need tens of
billions of pounds of investment, often from the same companies;
you cannot spend the same pot of money twice. We are spending
£6.6 billon this year on home efficiency measures, and there is a
huge amount of work going on behind the scenes on retrofitting
and home insulation measures, and through ECO, the local
authority delivery scheme and the home upgrade grant. So, a lot
of work is going on in this space.
(Lab)
My Lords, the cost of producing oil and gas has not changed
substantially, but the selling price has. The refiners’ profits
from petrol are up by 366%, and from diesel by 648%. May I urge
the Minister to commission an inquiry into profiteering, and to
introduce price controls to protect people from it?
(Con)
The noble Lord needs to look at our past experience of price
controls to see how ineffective they are. I am sure the
Chancellor will want to bear in mind any examples of profiteering
the noble Lord refers to. All tax matters are of course kept
under close review.
(Con)
My Lords, is there any universally accepted definition of fuel
poverty and if so, what is it?
(Con)
My noble friend makes a good point, and actually, no, there is
not. There is a definition that I refer to, and definitions are
used concerning the percentage of someone’s disposable income
that is spent on fuel. There was a big debate about the different
metrics to use, but whatever metric we do use, nobody can
disagree with the fact that it is a difficult time for everyone
at the moment, and the Government need to do all they can to
help.
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