Recommendations & Conclusions
5 items
2
Conclusion
19th Report - Energy Bills Support
Acknowledged
The Department would not yet be in a position to provide more targeted support to consumers and so reduce wasteful expenditure. Most of the £44 billion of support was provided through the schemes that were universal in nature, which means that some people who did not need the support still …
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The Department would not yet be in a position to provide more targeted support to consumers and so reduce wasteful expenditure. Most of the £44 billion of support was provided through the schemes that were universal in nature, which means that some people who did not need the support still received it, affecting the schemes’ overall value for money. The support provided also did not match the support that was needed, as lower–income households received the same level of support as higher–income households. The non–domestic sector faced similar issues, with for example small, energy–intensive businesses struggling to access support which reflected a range of very different circumstances due to the Department’s initial poor understanding of the sector. The Department is still in the early stages of considering how combining information, such as from tax systems, which are based on individuals, and energy usage based on household consumption, might support better targeting in the future, despite it being almost three years since the spike in energy prices. 3 Stakeholders are concerned that delays in addressing administrative challenges with data matching will affect the ability for future financial support to reach those consumers who need it most. recommendation The Department should, by September 2025, set out a plan for how it would be able to target support to both domestic and non–domestic consumers in the future. This should include the actions it is taking to address the challenges with data matching.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees to review options for better targeting support and improve data use for future schemes, acknowledging this is complex and involves ongoing work with stakeholders to consider options.
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HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
19th Report - Energy Bills Support
Acknowledged
The Department has commissioned independent evaluations of all of its domestic and non–domestic financial support schemes.15 As part of these evaluations, the Department is reviewing whether approaches like universal support were effective, or if the cost of providing support to homes and businesses that did not necessarily need it (known …
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The Department has commissioned independent evaluations of all of its domestic and non–domestic financial support schemes.15 As part of these evaluations, the Department is reviewing whether approaches like universal support were effective, or if the cost of providing support to homes and businesses that did not necessarily need it (known as ‘deadweight’) was justified by the broader economic benefits.16
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the committee's observation, stating it has conducted lessons learned activities and will share evaluation reports, including domestic and non-domestic energy affordability scheme evaluations, by Q3 2025. It will also write to the Committee with learnings within one month of publication.
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HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
19th Report - Energy Bills Support
Acknowledged
The Department said it was frustrated that the results of the evaluations would not be available to it sooner.19 Even so, it told us it was confident that it was “ready to deal with whatever happens in international energy markets”, but stressed that “there is no evidence that there will …
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The Department said it was frustrated that the results of the evaluations would not be available to it sooner.19 Even so, it told us it was confident that it was “ready to deal with whatever happens in international energy markets”, but stressed that “there is no evidence that there will be a further price spike”. It pointed to schemes like the Winter Support Commitment, which offers some households an extra £25 to support them with their energy bills, as a way of keeping bills affordable. However, these schemes would not be sufficient to shield households from the full impact of price rises should there be another energy crisis.20 Targeting support
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the committee's observation, stating it has conducted lessons learned activities and will share evaluation reports, including domestic and non-domestic energy affordability scheme evaluations, by Q3 2025. It will also write to the Committee with learnings that can be applied to any future …
Read full response →
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
19th Report - Energy Bills Support
Acknowledged
The Department said that even if it had wanted to, it would not have been able to target support at the time of introducing the schemes due to challenges with identifying household income to determine an appropriate level of support.26 Written evidence from the Energy Systems Catapult and Fair by …
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The Department said that even if it had wanted to, it would not have been able to target support at the time of introducing the schemes due to challenges with identifying household income to determine an appropriate level of support.26 Written evidence from the Energy Systems Catapult and Fair by Design highlighted a need for targeted support.27 To do this, the Department told us that it is now working with the Department for Work and Pensions to make best use of employment benefits data.28 It added that it is also working with the health service and local government to identify individuals in particular need of support alongside energy suppliers. The Department recognised that targeting support requires data linking to be effective, but highlighted “very significant technical and practical challenges” in doing so. It told us the “most difficult nut to crack” is still income data, which is collected on an individual level while energy usage is based on household consumption.29 The income data for self–employed individuals is also lagged, so it is “quite a long way out of date by the time it is fully organised”.30
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Government response AI summary
The government says it is taking the opportunity to review options for better targeting of future bill support beyond March 2026, exploring data sharing and data matching to improve the targeting of economic support.
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HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
19th Report - Energy Bills Support
Acknowledged
The Department acknowledged that it knew less about the non–domestic sector than the domestic sector at the time of the interventions and that this “threw up a number of issues and complexities”.33 It told us that targeting the non–domestic sector was a challenge because of “level of data to allow …
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The Department acknowledged that it knew less about the non–domestic sector than the domestic sector at the time of the interventions and that this “threw up a number of issues and complexities”.33 It told us that targeting the non–domestic sector was a challenge because of “level of data to allow us to categorise non–domestic suppliers into particular groups”. Although it used standard classifications of industry to understand which sectors 24 Q 12 25 Q 30 26 Q 13 27 EBS0001; EBS0008 28 Qq 13, 17 29 Q 13 30 Q 13 31 Q 31 32 EBS0008 33 Q 46 10 were particularly exposed to high energy costs, and which were more energy–intensive, the Department said there were “limitations around that data in the way it groups different sets of customers”.34 The Department’s poor understanding of the non–domestic sector led to it providing identical support for all businesses.35 Small businesses, however, do not have the buying power of some of the larger non–domestic customers to get good deals, and have a variety of contracts and arrangements.36 Some small businesses with high energy usage such as hospitality may have also missed out on additional support that they needed before the government began to target businesses deemed to be energy and trade intensive in March 2024.37 The Department said that it would want to target a future scheme more precisely using its “understanding of the different exposure that different parts of the sector had” to high energy prices.38 Identifying consumers most in need
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Government response AI summary
The government says it is taking the opportunity to review options for better targeting of future bill support beyond March 2026, exploring data sharing and data matching to improve the targeting of economic support.
Read full response →
HM Treasury