Energy Bills

Does my right hon. Friend agree that an even bigger proportion of average fuel bills is accounted...

My hon. Friend will have heard in my statement that the electricity distribution network operator...

Despite the Secretary of State’s ploughing, he has markedly failed to deliver a straight furrow. ...

I am afraid that the hon. Lady is completely wrong. The ECO scheme remains—let us be clear about ...

Does the Secretary of State agree that moving towards general taxation means that the cost of the...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; moving some of the costs that were on the bill and having to ...

Does the Minister understand that an increasing number of people in this country are now terrifie...

It was the last Labour Government’s Energy and Climate Change Secretary who said that

“alar...

Why has the Secretary of State not taken the simple and straightforward option of abolishing VAT ...

I think my hon. Friend knows that that would be illegal.

Will the Secretary of State give me a personal guarantee that his hasty changes to the energy com...

As a lad of Nottingham and someone who has been on a visit with the hon. Lady to a number of home...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that if the Government had not increased cold weather payments an...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. One of the first acts of this Government was to confirm t...

How will these decisions help people in rural areas who depend on off-grid fuels?

One of the things we have done is to look at the rural sub-obligation, which is a fourth componen...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that these problems have built up over many years and were not ta...

My hon. Friend is right that fuel poverty rose to record levels under the previous Government. On...

The fact is that many of my constituents will still struggle to afford to put on their heating, b...

As I recall, the hon. Gentleman asked me whether I had raised the matter in a previous meeting. S...

In 2010, EDF sold its three English networks for £5.8 billion at a 27% premium on Ofgem’s value. ...

Ofgem is fit for purpose. It needs to ensure that the returns on network business are fair to ena...

Is it not true that we were sold the privatisation of utilities on the supposed knowledge that th...

I do not recognise anything that the hon. Gentleman has just said. If he does not understand the ...

What about the companies doing their bit?

Order. The hon. Member for Blaydon (Mr Anderson) is now squawking like a parrot with indigestion....

Last week during Energy questions, I pressed the Minister of State, Department of Energy and Clim...

I said that the rural sub-obligation would be improved to ensure that people are benefiting from ...

You may well be right that the Energy Secretary is doing his best, Mr Speaker, but it is simply n...

Not at all. People will look at the Labour party and see a party that is offering a con, a party ...

The Leader of the Opposition hiked up energy prices when he was Secretary of State for Energy and...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his contribution, as always, but I must say that the most sec...

That was like a bad sketch in “The Fast Show”, with the Secretary of State saying, “The consumer ...

They will get this benefit.

Does my right hon. Friend not think that problems with the energy market, such as those relating ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the reasons why we have to increase investment so much...

The Secretary of State says that he is spreading the money for the energy company obligation over...

Not only did I not say what the hon. Gentleman said I did, but that is not true. Fuel poverty pro...

Within the next decade, we must invest £110 billion, probably more, in our energy infrastructure—...

It would be worse than that: it would be the poor old consumers who did so, because the cost of c...

Around 100 people from my constituency, and hundreds more, face two extra hours on their working ...

This was discussed in a little more depth in oral questions to the Department of Energy and Clima...

I welcome the Energy Secretary’s announcement, and congratulate him on the robust defence that he...

The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, my right hon. Friend the Member f...

The Energy Secretary talked about there being no need to alarm people, but I have never known a t...

I was quoting the leader of the hon. Lady’s party when I talked about not alarming people; I was ...

I welcome the positive response to the Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change’s recommenda...

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s welcome. He is quite right: we looked at what the Select Commi...

The Secretary of State said that he wanted to make bills easier for the public to understand, but...

The really important thing for the hon. Gentleman’s constituents is that the average energy bill ...

My constituents will see through the crocodile tears of Opposition Members, because they know tha...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. When we came to power we found that there were far too few en...

Is there any part of his statement that the Secretary of State might wish to review in the light ...

We approached the review with the intention of ensuring not only that we kept the support for the...

Would it be possible to tackle the problem of VAT on fuel by ignoring a European Union directive ...

I think that would be very unwise. I am sure that the Chancellor’s lawyers would explain that it ...

We need to ask what the Secretary of State has been doing for the past three and a half years. He...

I must say that the hon. Gentleman, to whom I normally listen with attention, is wrong on every p...

It is this Government who have introduced a code of practice for off-grid suppliers, raised the b...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. He is also right to put this announcement in the context ...

Many of my constituents who get their energy from SSE saw their prices rise on 15 November. They ...

I am surprised that the hon. Lady mentions SSE, because it has announced a £50 price cut from nex...

The best way to cut electricity and gas bills would be to abolish VAT on them. Will the Secretary...

I am being tempted by my colleagues on the Back Benches. I hope they can cast their minds back to...

All one needs to know about this Government is summed up in the first few words of the Secretary ...

The hon. Gentleman shows his lack of understanding of the policy. It is very important that we ha...

Will my right hon. Friend describe to the House just how much control he has over global gas whol...

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Neither I nor my predecessor, nor the Leader of the Oppos...

Hundreds of people in Splott and Tremorfa in my constituency who suffer from some of the highest ...

It would be interesting to see the petition, because I am sure that the hon. Gentleman did not sh...

Does the Secretary of State agree that the best way to secure lower energy bills and more investm...

There were moments in that question when I thought my hon. Friend was doing a good job, but I am ...

Is it not the case that this Minister and the Prime Minister only dare ask the big six to freeze ...

I am more impressed by what people do when they are in office. The Leader of the Opposition did n...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, while it is right to take action to reduce energy bills, th...

My hon. Friend hits the nail on the head. It is vital that we do everything we can on energy bill...

I have been contacted by companies in my constituency that are very concerned about the chaotic w...

There are likely to be a lot more, because we are extending the affordable warmth scheme: we are ...

I welcome any measures such as this that help families who are struggling with the increased cost...

My hon. Friend raises an interesting point. Certainly, we and, indeed, Ofgem have been looking at...

More than 5,000 people in Chesterfield signed a petition urging the Government to freeze energy p...

We have actually gone further than the hon. Gentleman wants. We have asked Ofgem to do a full rev...

The Secretary of State has been asked twice about rural areas such as mine, where many households...

When I was asked that question on the two previous occasions mentioned by the hon. Gentleman, I r...

I do not know whether the Secretary of State is being conned by the big six or whether he thinks ...

It is worth pointing out to the hon. Gentleman, first, that disconnections are at an historical l...

On energy efficiency, we know that contractors who sometimes literally bet their house on green d...

First, the hon. Gentleman is wrong about the green deal; he was referring to green deal finance p...

The Secretary of State has panicked because he knows that Labour’s two-year price freeze has stru...

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is wrong on every count. This Government—working positively w...

I listened to the Secretary of State announcing his policy of a £50 cut on Radio Humberside at 9 ...

The hon. Lady is right to say that electricity and gas prices have been going up for some time, b...

If the Secretary of State is so confident about the impact of his measures, why are the Governmen...

We are not trying to water down the target. We have had a two and a half year analysis and consul...

Are not future rip-offs very likely, given the extraordinary deal on Hinkley Point nuclear power ...

I disagree with the hon. Gentleman’s analysis of the impact of the nuclear deal, and actually he ...

My constituents will take two things away from today’s statement. One is that they will still be ...

I am afraid that the hon. Lady is mixing up two things. Today, following our detailed review of G...

With permission Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the action the Government are tak...

Order. Let us have a bit of order in the House. The Secretary of State is doing his best to ploug...

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

First, the Government will provide £300 million in both 2014 and 201...

My hon. Friend the Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) is absolutely right. The profits of t...

I am never quite sure where the Labour party stands on profit. One of its number said in 2009: