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Energy Bill

Perhaps I can come back to that point before I sit down. The Pensions Bill amendment is an important step forward on data sharing. Moreover, because of the more limited focus of this amendment on a particular group of vulnerable consumers, some of the issues of proportionality and data protection I have just outlined can be better managed. Briefly, on non-legislative steps, all eligible households that come forward to the Warm Front scheme—which, as the Committee will know, offers grants to help pay for heating and insulation improvements in the home—are now also offered further assistance to ensure that they are aware of all the benefits to which they are entitled. Last year, Warm Front performed approximately 50,000 benefit-entitlement checks, which helped locate additional benefits for over 18,000 people with an average value of over £28 per week, or £1,500 per year. Working with the energy suppliers, the departments referred to have already undertaken two small winter mail-outs based on DWP data, which the noble Lord referred to. In the past two winters 350,000 customers on pension credit have been sent information to tell them about the Warm Front initiatives, the CERT measures and to offer advice on reducing their energy bills. Following the fuel poverty summit, suppliers have committed themselves to improving the transparency of the support that they can offer vulnerable customers. This includes ensuring that websites to help you switch energy supplier, agencies such as Citizens Advice and consumers have clear, accessible, information on what support is available. Suppliers will also be reviewing the effectiveness of the Home Heat Helpline, which is run by the Energy Retail Association, to ensure that it functions effectively as a central point of contact for help and advice on paying fuel bills. I end my list of examples with experience from regional programmes, such as the Warm Zones scheme, which has shown that an area-based approach can be one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways of identifying and helping the fuel poor. As part of the drive to better target the most vulnerable consumers, local and central government and suppliers will work together to build on this approach and explore if an area-by-area approach could have benefits for the delivery of other programmes such as CERT. I hope that we have understood the question of the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, correctly. Analysis indicates that suppliers would need to target around 2.4 million households to meet their CERT obligations. Ofgem will report a little later in the year on how many have received assistance so far. I hope that I have provided some reassurance to the noble Lord; I am sure that I have not told him anything that he does not already know better than me. However, we recognise that this is a major issue, and I emphasise the wide range of work that is under way. We will review progress from the Ofgem summit in autumn 2008. The amendment to the Pensions Bill is an important start, and we will learn lessons from it to help inform further work on other legislative data-sharing options. I assure the noble Lord that we will keep the case for further legislation under review in the context of our ongoing commitment, shared by everyone in the Committee, to address fuel poverty. At this stage, it is not a simple matter of adding further legislation. However, I again thank the noble Lord for introducing the topic to the Committee this afternoon.