Topical question asked in the House of Commons, by Andrew Selous (Conservative). It was answered on Thursday, 25 February 2010 on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Topical Questions

Question: Ofgem's latest figures show that prepayment meter customers, who are often from the poorest households, are still paying up to £60 a year more for their electricity and up to £107 a year more for their gas. Given the profits being made by the energy companies, will the Secretary of State ask them to eliminate that differential completely?

Answer: We have eradicated the differential between prepayment meters and the standard credit, so the hon. Gentleman has now moved on to the differential between the prepayment meter and direct debit. At present, the licence condition is that a cost differential is permissible to reflect simply the extra cost of providing the means of payment. According to Ofgem, a prepayment meter costs about £88 a year more to administer than a direct debit. That would be the difficulty for me in acceding to the hon. Gentleman's latest request.

Secondary information