Written question asked by Alan Simpson (Labour) on Wednesday, 24 October 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 29 October 2007. It was answered by Malcolm Wicks (Labour) on Monday, 29 October 2007 on behalf of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Utilities: Meters

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer of 8 October 2007, Official Report, column 451W, on utilities: meters, how many households pay for electricity and gas by (a) direct debit, (b) prepayment meters, (c) online methods, (d) quarterly payments, (e) fuel direct and (f) any other method, broken down by income decile.

Answer

In the UK, there are around 26¼ million electricity and 21 million gas domestic customers. The number of customers split by payment method and income decile is estimated as follows:

Electricity in thousand customers
		Decile group
	Lowest 10 per cent.	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth	Seventh	Eighth	Ninth	Highest 10 per cent.
Pre-payment	870	608	481	429	357	341	267	259	123	41
Standard credit	1,149	1,126	1,128	985	1,021	961	989	888	1,009	1,081
Direct debit	606	890	1,015	1,210	1,246	1,322	1,368	1,477	1,493	1,502

Gas in thousand customers
		Decile group
	Lowest 10 per cent.	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth	Seventh	Eighth	Ninth	Highest 10 per cent.
Pre-payment	609	406	289	254	199	220	151	110	33	25
Standard credit	958	928	929	857	880	809	816	811	905	872
Direct debit	537	770	886	994	1,024	1,075	1,137	1,184	1,166	1,208

The aforementioned data have been estimated from the latest BERR Domestic Fuel Inquiry which shows customers numbers by payment type and the 2005-06 Expenditure and Food Survey which supplies information on payment methods and household income.Ofgem's domestic retail market report shows that in March 2007 there were 2½ million customer accounts signed up to online tariffs (this figure includes both gas and electricity accounts). The majority of consumers paying online for their gas and electricity will use the direct debit payment method and would therefore be included in that category in the aforementioned tables.There are around 50,000 gas and electricity fuel direct accounts.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 161616; 465 c712W
Session: 2006-07
Related items: Utilities: Meters
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects: Billing Utilities
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk

Utilities: Meters

Secondary information

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