Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Seventy-Fourth Report - Bulb Energy
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1232
Published 1 November 2023
Recommendations
23
Not Addressed
Improve administrative processes to increase energy bill support voucher redemption rates for vulnerable customers.
Recommendation
We examined the government’s support for customers’ and businesses’ energy bills in November 2022 and June 2023. We concluded that many vulnerable customers faced extra challenges accessing benefits designed to help people with their energy bills. We also found that …
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Government Response Summary
The government states it agrees and that the recommendation is implemented, but its response describes ongoing general energy support schemes like the EPG and Warm Home Discount. It does not specifically detail how it has addressed administrative barriers or increased the redemption rate for past energy vouchers as explicitly recommended.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (3)
22
Conclusion
Not Addressed
Over the course of 2022, the government announced £69 billion worth of measures to protect billpayers from price increases. In February 2022, it announced a £200 upfront reduction in customers’ bills from October 2022, which was expected to be repaid by customers over five years from April 2023. In May …
Government Response Summary
The government's response describes existing and ongoing energy support schemes (EPG, cost-of-living payments, EBDS, WHD) for households and businesses. However, the original committee item was a descriptive statement of past government measures, not a recommendation, and the response does not address any specific implicit recommendations from it.
24
Conclusion
The energy price cap limits the rates suppliers can charge customers for the standing charge and for each unit of electricity and gas used. The price cap is set by Ofgem at a level that is largely based on the wholesale price of energy.51 We asked Ofgem to provide information …
25
Conclusion
Not Addressed
In our June 2023 report on Energy Bills Support, we found that the government planned to replace the Energy Bill Relief Scheme with the Energy Bill Discount Scheme. This would support businesses for 12 months from April 2023 by providing a discount on their energy bills if wholesale prices were …
Government Response Summary
The government's response describes the ongoing Energy Bill Discount Scheme (EBDS) and its provisions for non-domestic customers and heat networks. However, it does not address the committee's specific concerns regarding the lack of assessment of the scheme's impact or the exclusion of certain businesses from additional support.