High UK energy costs have been driven by our dependence on global fossil fuel markets. The Government’s clean energy mission is the best way to break this dependence and protect billpayers permanently. The Government also acted at Budget to take an average £150 of costs off domestic bills in Great Britain from April, and it continues to work with the NI Executive on measures to bring down energy costs for households in Northern Ireland.

Energy policy in Northern Ireland is devolved. However, Ministers meet regularly with energy suppliers and we expect them to do everything they can to support their consumers, especially the most vulnerable.

The government committed to implementing the Supercharger measures between April 2024 and April 2025. The 4 statutory instruments that enact the Supercharger came into force on 1 April and the first measure has been implemented. The second measure will be implemented from 1 October and the final measure will be implemented from April 2025.

Taken together, the government estimates that Government support on electricity prices for Energy Intensive Industries (EIIs) in the form of the British Industry Supercharger could be worth (on average) around £24-£31 Per MegaWatt Hour (MWh) for eligible businesses, closing the competitive gap with their international competitors.

The Government published its response to each of the recommendations made by the Competition and Markets Authority on 24 January 2024, in the Government’s response to its consultation entitled ‘Smarter Regulation: improving price transparency and product information for consumers’. The response sets out the Government’s intention to reform pricing legislation to make pricing information clearer and more useful to consumers. The Government will continue to have due regard to the Competition and Markets Authority’s publications whilst reforming pricing legislation.

Ministers and officials regularly meet with Ofgem to discuss a range of issues including trends and forecasts for the energy market. Ofgem monitor the energy market including the traded prices for Forward Delivery Contracts for periods many months in advance. Market information that is publicly available is published by Ofgem on their website:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-data-and-research/data-portal

The Government will launch a consultation on the requirement for fuel retailers to provide up to date retail fuel price information shortly.

Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill will extend the Government’s ability to establish and mandate participation in smart data schemes via regulations.

Following conclusion of the consultation process and Royal Assent of the Bill, the Government will lay regulations using the smart data powers to set up the statutory open data scheme for road fuel prices.

The Supercharger will introduce targeted measures to ensure the energy costs for key UK industries are in line with other major economies around the world – levelling the playing field for British companies across Europe.

Analysis shows that the Supercharger proposals, when fully implemented, will reduce average electricity prices for UK Energy Intensive Industries by £24 to £31/MWh, having a direct impact on their competitiveness and reducing global carbon emissions.

It is absolutely right that our businesses need to compete globally. Again, Putin is the reason for these high energy costs. We have stepped in to support families. The money has to come from somewhere; our answer has been the oil and gas companies, but of course we need to make sure that the balance is right with the taxpayer as well. The hon. Gentleman can be assured that we are working on it with the Chancellor all the time.

Following the Government’s request for an urgent review of the fuel market, the Competition and Markets Authority published its road fuel report on 8 July. Its initial findings were that the UK retail fuel market appears to be competitive but areas for further investigation were identified. A market study to look at the growing gap between the oil price, and the wholesale price of petrol and diesel was launched which will make recommendations where there are no legitimate reasons for this. The Government will carefully consider, alongside relevant industry partners, any recommendations made in the study.

Ministers and officials from the Department meet representatives from the oil industry to discuss the United Kingdom downstream oil sector on a regular basis.

The Government believes that it is essential that consumers get a fair deal and that a competitive market is the best way to keep prices low. Fuel pricing is subject to UK competition law under the Competition and Markets Authority. Its predecessor, the Office of Fair Trading last looked at fuel prices in 2013. I expect the retail fuel market to be kept under review.

The hon. Gentleman makes an extremely important point. We have commissioned Professor Dieter Helm to look at how we can reduce the costs of our energy system for businesses and consumers. One of the advantages of the strategy that we have pursued is that we have brought down the costs of offshore wind—a major contribution—by targeting and investing substantially in it at a rate, as my the Minister for Energy and Clean Growth, my right hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Claire Perry) said earlier, which has resulted in a reduction beyond what anyone expected even a couple of years ago.

UK Ministers and officials have regularly drawn the Commission’s attention to the difficulties facing UK dairy farmers. The Commission has listened to the concerns raised by the UK and other Member States and has introduced a €500m package of targeted support for EU farmers. The UK has been allocated the equivalent of £26.2m as part of this aid package and this will be shared between dairy farmers on the basis of their milk production. Northern Irish farmers will receive a boosted payment in recognition of the very low prices in Northern Ireland. Payments are expected to be made in December 2015.

First, we should welcome this fall in oil prices. We are beginning to see prices fall quite substantially at the pumps, but I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we want to see them go down further and faster. Some of this will depend on the buying strategies that the fuel companies had, but we will ensure that the competition authorities and the Government do everything they can to ensure that those fuel prices are passed on.

Competition in the energy markets is crucial to keeping prices as low as possible and to raising consumer confidence in the energy market. Since 2010 we have seen 12 new companies enter the British domestic market challenging the existing companies. Despite this there are concerns about the level of competition therefore Ofgem has referred the market to the Competition and Markets Authority for a full Market Investigation.

Energy policy is devolved to the Northern Irish Assembly.

DECC publish regional electricity and gas bills information in Quarterly Energy Prices. Differences between regions are due to several factors including regional variation in pricing and the proportion of consumers who have switched supplier onto cheaper tariffs. DECC estimate that in 2013 the average retail electricity bill was highest in the North Scotland and lowest in the East Midlands and that the average retail gas bill is highest in London and lowest in North Scotland.

Source: DECC Quarterly Energy Prices, table 2.2.3 for electricity and 2.3.3 for gas https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/annual-domestic-energy-price-statistics. Provisional estimates for regional bills for 2014 will be published Thursday 18th December 2014. Northern Ireland data is included in the electricity comparison but DECC do not publish gas bills for Northern Ireland.)

Wholesale fuel prices are fundamentally driven by crude prices. At the margin supply and demand factors for individual refined products will influence their prices.

Such factors are not necessarily the same for both petrol and diesel, which can lead to disparities in prices. For example, the UK produces more petrol than is demanded domestically, and this surplus puts downward pressure on the petrol price. In contrast, the UK is a net importer of diesel and so extra costs of importing such as transportation costs must be factored into diesel prices.

While petrol and diesel are taxed at differing rates in Ireland, they are currently treated equally for tax purposes in the UK.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as the UK’s competition authority can carry out investigations where there is evidence of abuse of a dominant position or market abuse. Whilst the Government does not generally intervene in what businesses charge consumers for their goods and services we do recognise the concerns over the current pressures on milk prices. That is why my hon Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs brought forward and chaired a meeting of the Dairy Supply Chain Forum last week.

Members, which include retailer representatives, discussed the recommendations made in the recent independent review of the dairy industry voluntary Code of Practice, one of which was to explore the possibility of expanding adoption of the Code within the supply chain to include retailers.