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UK Government's Energy Policy

Being called to speak has come as a surprise, Mr Havard, as the right hon. Member for Neath was in full flow there—I was enjoying it. I will press on in the few minutes available before we adjourn. I want to talk seriously about some issues that have affected my constituents in the past few months and during the cold snap—specifically, energy supply to homes in rural areas. I also want to talk a bit about the Energy Bill. Many homes in rural areas in my constituency and elsewhere depend on liquefied petroleum gas and on fuel oil, and there have been substantial problems, specifically just before Christmas. On supply, LPG provides heating for houses and also for hot water. The most worrying problem that my constituents have found recently is the absolute interruption of LPG supplies just before Christmas. A number of constituents found that they had run out, so they could not heat their houses or heat water. There was, apparently, a problem with the main supplier in England. I hardly need say that that was extremely perilous to people, particularly older people, those with a disability and families with children. In individual situations, the danger was as great, or even greater, than that caused by the disruption to water supplies in my constituency some time ago by the cryptosporidium outbreak, so there is a substantial issue here of danger to the public. LPG, of course, is very expensive and there is an argument that the high price is a disincentive to people filling the tank to the top just before the cold weather comes along. Why should people put all that money into the ground or into the tank, when they should have the confidence that supplies will be available? There is also a more structural problem with the market. I have had complaints and queries over the past few years about the complex and perplexing pricing structure for LPG. The industry appears to be highly competitive—there are lots of special offers, lots of short-term sweetheart deals—but, strangely enough, the stories that my constituents tell me are all remarkably similar in that there is a great initial deal on signing a contract, followed, eventually, by consistently high prices. The pricing structure is one of great complexity, with the same company charging different prices to customers in identical circumstances, and a lack of transparency as to the actual cost of the energy when all those special offers are stripped away—