Energy Costs (Prepayment Meters)
5. Mercedes Villalba
(North East Scotland) (Lab)
To ask the First Minister, in light of reports of people being
forced on to prepayment meters, what steps the Scottish
Government is taking to support vulnerable people in Scotland
with rising energy costs. (S6F-01802)
The First Minister
()
First of all, the Scottish Government opposes the forced
installation of prepayment meters, because that is only more
likely to increase debt or leave people unable to heat their
homes.
We continue to call on the United Kingdom Government to provide
the necessary additional support for those who are struggling
with energy bills, and we are doing everything that we can with
the powers that are available to us. That includes doubling the
fuel insecurity fund to £20 million and providing an additional
£1.2 million to help advice services to meet the increasing
demand that they are dealing with.
I chaired two energy summits last year. As a result of those, we
continue to work with partners to see what more we can do by
working together to support and protect Scottish consumers in
these times.
Mercedes
Villalba
The oil and gas giants BP and Shell are
reporting record profits on the sale of energy while millions of
people are struggling to heat their homes. However, the extortion
does not stop there. I have received reports from the Dundee
Pensioners Forum that its elderly members are receiving alarming
letters demanding payment from their energy suppliers. Those are
payments to accounts that are not only not in arrears but in
significant credit. When those vulnerable people are unable to
pay what they do not even owe, they are threatened with forced
installation of prepayment meters.
Although I appreciate that much of energy policy is reserved, the
First Minister meets energy providers regularly and has their
ear, so will she condemn any use of such bullying and strong-arm
tactics, and will she commit to ending the granting of warrants
by courts in Scotland for the forced installation of prepayment
meters?
The First
Minister
I have not seen the letters that Mercedes Villalba referred to,
but I, of course, condemn any behaviour that seeks to bully
consumers or individuals in any way.
Two issues, both of which are important, were raised in the
course of that question: first, the taxation of oil and gas
companies and, secondly, regulation. Both are reserved to the UK
Government. I wish that that was not the case and that we had
those powers here in the Scottish Parliament. Perhaps the member
will, in the future, support our calls for such powers.
As First Minister, I cannot instruct the courts; every member
understands that. However, within the powers that are available
to us—on energy, as the member recognises, those powers are very
limited—the Parliament and the Government will and should look at
what more we can do to help.
However, on this as on so many other issues, if we did not always
have to look to the UK Government—if we held those powers here in
the Scottish Parliament—we would be able to do much more than we
can do right now.
