Tag: The Lord Bishop of St Albans

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2014-05-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they intend to ensure the continuing affordability of liquid petroleum gas and oil for those households which are not on mains gas supply.

Baroness Verma

Her Majesty’s Government is acutely aware of the difficulties people have experienced with the price of liquid petroleum gas and heating oil. The price of LPG and oil is influenced by a range of factors, including crude oil prices (the major factor), refinery capacity, stock levels, distribution costs and retail margins.

We believe that the consumer is best served by open competition between companies. The Office of Fair Trading studied the heating oil market in 2011 and found few competition concerns. Most areas of the UK are supplied by a variety of heating oil suppliers and there are low barriers to entry for new businesses who may want to compete. The OFT study also commented on the generally positive initial impact of the Competition Commission Orders from 2009 to make it easier for domestic bulk LPG consumers to switch supplier, and there is a statutory duty to keep under review the effectiveness of and compliance with these Orders.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Minister of State for Energy will chair a third Ministerial Roundtable meeting on heating oil and LPG supply on 21 May. The Roundtable brings together a wide range of interests including Government, regulators, advisory and charitable bodies, the fuel supply industry and others to work together to improve the security and affordability of off-grid fuel supply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2014-05-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will act to reduce the unit price paid by those consumers who are able to purchase electricity only from a supplier because they are not on mains gas supply and so cannot benefit from a dual fuel tariff.

Baroness Verma

The decision to offer a dual fuel discount to customers who take a gas and electricity supply from one supplier is a commercial matter for the companies concerned. The discount reflects savings made by the company by combining administrative costs of providing the two separate supplies. Dual fuel discounts typically range from £10 to £25 per year. It would not be appropriate for Government to intervene by requiring suppliers to reduce electricity prices for just one specific segment of customers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2014-05-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the financial impact on people on low incomes of uprating most cash benefits and tax credits by one per cent from April 2013 rather than in line with inflation.

Lord Freud

For 2013/14, the main rates of working-age benefits, statutory payments and tax credits were up-rated by one per cent in the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2013. The Welfare Benefits Up-rating Act 2013 provided for the one per cent increase to apply for 2014/15 and 2015/16. Both of these were accompanied by Impact Assessments.

As part of his ongoing public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010 to monitor impacts on ‘protected groups’, the Secretary of State continues to monitor the impacts of the Welfare Benefits Up-rating Act 2013 in light of any changes to the underlying rate of inflation. The underlying rate of inflation for increases in 2014/15 is similar to that forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility and used in the Impact Assessment. It is therefore likely that the impacts on affected households will be broadly similar to those detailed in the Impact Assessment.