I thank all three noble Lords for their contributions. I am proud to say that, through the scheme, the Government have provided support to hundreds of thousands of households, helping them with financial pressures when they needed it most. The Government remain fully aware of the continued challenges posed by cost of living pressures, including the impact of energy bills. We are providing extensive financial support to households, including a package of support to assist households with the rising cost of living—this will total over £104 billion, or £3,700 per household on average, between 2022 and 2025. All three noble Lords recognised the extensive package of support that was put in place.
I totally understand the points made by the noble Earl, Lord Russell, and the noble Lord, Lord Lennie, on the heat network sector. The noble Earl is right that our database is not as good as it could be in terms of what heat networks are available. It is perfectly possible at the moment for anybody to build a block of flats and, in effect, set up a heat network; they do not necessarily have to tell the Government about it. However, if noble Lords remember, we recognised that in the Energy Act, where we took powers to regulate the heat network sector. That is why we are introducing new consumer regulations for heat networks and, from next year, we will have new consumer protections in place, provided through the Energy Act. That will give Ofgem powers to investigate and intervene in networks where prices for consumers appear to be unfair, or if prices are significantly higher than comparable heating systems. They are, in effect, natural monopolies, and therefore it is right that consumer protections exist. Those regulations will also seek to introduce back-billing rules, which exist already to protect gas and electricity customers.
The noble Lord, Lord Vaux, raised an important point about reaching as many customers as possible. It is indeed a priority for my department to ensure that as many customers as possible access the support available to them. So far, 12,000 applications have been approved under the scheme, which means that hundreds of thousands of domestic customers have been supported. We think that that figure of 12,000 represents the vast majority of qualified heat suppliers. We know that a scheme that was very much developed in haste in response to the energy crisis—as noble Lords will remember—was never going to be perfect. On top of that, we will strive to make sure that as many people as possible are reached by the scheme— but we think that it has reached the vast majority of eligible customers. We are targeting communications at heat suppliers with vulnerable customers, including housing associations and local authorities, and we will continue to do so.
The noble Lord, Lord Vaux, raised an important question—not at all related to this statutory instrument—about the distortions of gas and electricity pricing, and the protections provided to customers as part of that. It is fair to say that this is a big issue that we are concerned about. Ultimately, the answer to the noble Lord’s question is that, as the amount of gas on the network declines and the amount of gas used to generate power declines, prices will stabilise and there will be a steady decoupling. There are no immediate solutions to that. Perhaps it would be more sensible for me to write to the noble Lord with more detail on the considerations that have gone into this, because a lot of work has gone on, including a lot of studying of the market to see how we can improve it. I recognise that many people consider that they are getting renewable electricity through their suppliers, but the price that they receive for it reflects the cost of gas in the system, because it is a centralised market. I recognise that people see that as anomalous, and we are looking closely at this.
As I said, we recognise that customers on heat networks are not currently protected by the same set of protections as other customers, so in future they
will be protected by Ofgem via the regulations that I mentioned earlier. The noble Earl, Lord Russell, raised concerns about the impact on vulnerable customers on communal networks. Careful consideration has been given to equality when amending these regulations. We are fully aware that heat networks are more likely than other comparable heat sources to serve vulnerable and elderly customers, which is why we have carried out a number of activities to try to ensure that they receive the support to which they are entitled. We continue to engage with stakeholders such as the Heat Trust to learn about any issues with the customer journey, such as on the pass-through, and any other heat networks struggling with their applications so that we can continue to provide them with support.
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The noble Lord, Lord Lennie, asked about the deadline. If we did not amend the regulations, as I said in my introduction, a heat supplier would be able to apply way beyond the end of the current scheme. The scheme is currently contracted out at £5.3 million per annum, which is a significant burden on the taxpayer. As the number of eligible customers who have not received the support continues to decline, that would be an unjustifiable cost burden on the taxpayer to support a very small number of customers, even after we have gone to the extent that we have to contact as many as possible.
As a further example of our engagement, we have conducted extensive stakeholder communications campaigns and reached out to all known heat networks on government databases. We have worked with government and industry partners, devolved Governments and Members of Parliament to try to reach as many potentially vulnerable domestic customers as possible. We have also streamlined the application process to make it easier for heat networks to apply and we supply them with help if necessary, for example if they are very small.
We work closely with the Office for Product Safety and Standards to initiate enforcement action against known heat networks that have failed to apply, because there is a legal duty on them to apply for this. The noble Lord asked how much enforcement action has taken place. The Office for Product Safety and Standards has informally dealt with 657 heat network cases. Outcomes include the heat supplier making an application, when they have been encouraged to do so and reminded of their legal duty, confirming existing applications or providing confirmation that they are not responsible for the heat network or networks in question.
I hope that I have answered all the questions asked of me and convinced the Committee that these EBDS regulations are necessary to ensure that the Government are not continually legally obliged to accept applications to the scheme indefinitely, as I said, at the cost of many millions of pounds a year just on administration. As always, these decisions are difficult, but this balances our responsibility to limit the fiscal burden on the taxpayer with getting support to those vulnerable customers whom we want to help. I commend these draft regulations to the Committee.