Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
Deferred
Department still lacks solutions for matching income and energy supplier data effectively.
Conclusion
The Department acknowledged that it does not have “a full answer at this stage” to the issues with matching income data with energy supplier data, despite it being almost three years since the spike in energy prices.31 Fair by Design highlighted that combining wider data from different departments alongside supplier data to target money to those who need it the most is not happening.32
Government Response Summary
The government is taking the opportunity to review options for better targeting of future bill support beyond March 2026, and is working with other government departments, energy suppliers, and stakeholders to consider options for improving data sharing and data matching by September 2025.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2025 2.2 The Warm Home Discount provides targeted support to over 3 million low-income and fuel poor households in Great Britain, and the government has consulted on expanding the scheme to support more households. The government works with energy suppliers to identify eligible households in England and Wales through data matching, providing most of the rebates automatically. The current Warm Home Discount scheme runs to March 2026. The government is taking the opportunity to review options for better targeting of future bill support beyond this point. 2.3 Better access to data is critical for identifying households and providing them support automatically, and the government committed in the Autumn Budget 2024 to exploring how better data use and sharing can improve the targeting of economic support, particularly in times of crisis. These are complex matters, and the department is working closely with other government departments, energy suppliers, and stakeholders to consider options for improving data sharing and data matching. The Minister for Energy Consumers is also leading a working group with Energy UK and other stakeholders to consider how the department can take further sustained action on improving affordability and accessibility of energy.