Recommendation 22

We also asked the Department how it would ensure that customers still benefited if they were not the direct billpayers, for example those who live in park homes or in rented accommodation where the rent included bills. The Department recognised that this was an issue that it needed to address, and that it had included some possible solutions as part of its consultation on the scheme. But it noted that the customers affected represented less than 1% of the market, and that it had a solution for ensuring that 99% of customers were able to benefit from the scheme. The Department committed to using all the levers available to it to make sure that customers were able to benefit from the support available to them, but that “we have to be realistic: we may not be able to guarantee that in every single case”. It told us that if it could not ensure that all customers received and all landlords passed on the £400 benefit then it would consider how to provide support for “the most- difficult-to-access-groups” through one of the other types of support available, such as the Household Support Fund.53 48 Qq 15–16, 21 49 Q 53; Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Guidance: Heat networks, Updated 11 April 2022 50 Q 9; C&AG’s Report, para 2.6 51 GOV.UK, Millions of most vulnerable households will receive £1,200 of help with cost of living, May 2022; GOV. UK, Energy Bills Support Scheme explainer 52 Qq 9–10 53 Qq 9–11 16 Regulation of energy suppliers The future of the energy retail market