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Fuel Poverty

I, too, want to begin by congratulating the hon. Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith (Mark Lazarowicz) on securing the debate, and by paying tribute to him for the huge amount of work that he has done in this context over many years. Linked to that, I add my tribute to those that Energywatch has received this morning for its work. I also congratulate the hon. Member for Northavon (Steve Webb) on securing his position and on the way in which he has mastered his brief. We have had a very good debate, but it is clear that we are heading in the wrong direction, as the hon. Member for Northavon said. The problem is getting worse. There were 1 million households in fuel poverty in 2003 and now, according to Ofgem, there are about 4 million. The Government have been strangely quiet about that. When the figures were falling they trumpeted them, but the last Government figures that we had related to 2005. We cannot obtain from the Government, in spite of parliamentary questions, more up-to-date information about the number of households that are affected. We must go to other organisations, such as Ofgem, and we end up with an absurd situation of shifting targets, which become meaningless. The Government's original commitment was to eliminate fuel poverty in every vulnerable home by 2010, but now the policy is simply to ameliorate the situation. There is an absurd commitment in the recently published fifth annual report on the fuel poverty strategy to eliminate fuel poverty in England and Scotland by November 2016. It is absurd, because the report gives a date of 22 November 2016. That is almost nine years away; perhaps the Minister can tell us whether it will be in the morning or the afternoon. Why do not we shift away from meaningless targets towards more concrete action? What we have seen—and this is the real reason for change—an increase in fuel prices. When fuel prices fall, more people are taken out of fuel poverty; when they rise, inevitably more people are drawn into fuel poverty. Labour Members cannot have it both ways. When the numbers fall, they claim that it is a massive credit and triumph for Government policies but then, when wholesale fuel prices rise, they say that it is the fault of the energy companies. The right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Mr. Clarke) said that at the first hint of an increase in wholesale prices, the companies put consumer prices up. I wonder what newspapers he has been reading. He talked about the ““first hint””, but oil prices have reached $100 a barrel as a result of a gradual increase over a long period. The price of coal has doubled in the past year from $60 to $120 a tonne, and gas prices have gone up by 60 per cent. Those are real increases and they are reflected elsewhere. The right hon. Gentleman asked us to look at what is happening in Europe, but if he did so, he would see that in Germany, Spain and France, there have been applications, some of which have been approved, for fuel price increases of 10 per cent. We are talking about a global phenomenon, and the right hon. Gentleman does not strengthen his argument by misinterpreting the facts. Government policies have made the situation worse. We heard that the Warm Front budget has been cut from £350 million a year to £300 million. That was done deliberately to attract as little notice as possible in the run-up to Christmas. We heard that the overall budget over three years has been cut from a little more than £1 billion to £810 million. In addition, as we heard, the Warm Front scheme has failed many people because of the way in which it was set up. My hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink) rightly highlighted the fact that a scheme in which only approved contractors can be used ends up with a grant being given, but because the approved contractor quotes much more than the grant is worth, the individual concerned must either must top it up or go without it, whereas a local contractor could do the job at a much lower price. Those are practical problems that I hope the Minister will address. The Government have changed other policies and made the situation worse. Fuel companies used to visit vulnerable customers accompanied by an official from the Department for Work and Pensions. The company could tell people how they could improve their fuel efficiency and reduce their tariff. The DWP official could tell them which additional benefits they might be entitled to. The DWP stopped that scheme without explanation—indeed, it will not give an explanation—so will the Minister tell us why it did so? The change means that people who are entitled to additional benefits are missing out because that useful and valuable approach was dropped. Will the Minister tell us, too, what is the total contribution to fuel price increases resulting from Government measures to tackle climate change and increase energy efficiency? Will he confirm that renewable obligation certificates, carbon emissions reduction targets, and the EU emissions trading scheme have added about £70 per £1,000 of fuel bills to customers? We are all keen to see efforts made in that direction, but is it not the case that some households have been pushed into fuel poverty as a direct result of those additional costs on their fuel bills? In the course of the debate, we have focused a great deal on Ofgem's role and the work it does to tackle fuel poverty. We should recognise, that in its current duties, tackling fuel poverty is a secondary duty, not a primary duty. I hope that the Energy Bill will lead to a review of Ofgem's duties so that we can decide whether tackling fuel poverty should be a primary duty. We should recognise, too, that Ofgem has taken important steps, in particular through its work with citizens advice bureaux, to help to tackle fuel poverty. It sends out 100,000 letters a year to vulnerable customers to tell them what are the cheapest tariffs offered by energy suppliers in their area. Ofgem has managed to secure the power companies' agreement that they will not disconnect vulnerable customers. An enormous amount of work has been done, but I share the concerns expressed, in particular by the hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr. Whitehead), who speaks with expertise on these subjects, about pre payment meters. Much more needs to be done. Some companies have addressed the issue, but others, including companies such as npower, have failed to do so, and should be called to account. Will the Minister tell us the outcome of the discussions between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Alistair Buchanan of Ofgem following yesterday's press announcement that he was to be summoned to a meeting? I imagine that that meeting has taken place, or at least that a date has been set. Perhaps it has not—I hope that it was not simply a media stunt that the Government could use to get themselves off the hook. What is the outcome and, specifically, what will the Chancellor ask Ofgem to do to address the problems? The solution to the problems is clear. First, we need to make sure that more is done to encourage customers to swap providers. The price increases in the past couple of weeks are very concerning. However, they have been made by a few companies, not by the majority, so the reality is that changing supplier remains the best defence against increasing prices. Secondly—this point was made by the hon. Members for Northavon and for Southampton, Test—on energy efficiency, only 40 per cent. of houses in this country are properly insulated. Many of the worst insulated houses are occupied by people most trapped in fuel poverty. Unless we do more to address those issues, we will not address the whole problem. The Government have done some things, such as introduce winter fuel payments, but they have also introduced measures in the past year or so that have exacerbated the problems of fuel poverty. Hon. Members have highlighted those issues in the debate, and I hope that the Minister will assure us that the Government will take action to address those matters.