Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Fifty-Eighth Report - Energy bills support
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1074
Published 16 June 2023
Conclusions (5)
1
Conclusion
Acknowledged
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (The Department)2, the Former Permanent Secretary at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and HM Treasury about energy bills support.3 We also took …
Government Response Summary
The government highlights the £40 billion spent on energy support and notes it is learning lessons for future schemes. It is continuing to explore options for supporting consumers from April 2024 by improving the retail energy market and consumer standards.
7
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Some off-grid homes and businesses had to wait longer to receive support compared to the schemes to support consumers connected to the energy grid. The Department started delivering payments through the non-domestic Alternative Fuel Payment Scheme in February 2023. On 6 February 2023, it expected that eligible consumers would receive …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the observation, highlighting its swift action and the inherent complexity of reaching off-grid households, and is now seeking to learn lessons for future scheme delivery.
8
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The delays to introducing support schemes for customers who use alternative fuels had a greater impact on consumers in Northern Ireland because of the higher percentage of consumers that use these fuels. More than two-thirds (68%) of households in Northern Ireland heat their homes using alternative fuel, like heating oil.16 …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the observation, explaining its swift action and the complexities of support delivery, and states it is seeking to learn lessons for future schemes, noting that support in Northern Ireland was delivered via a single cash payment with high uptake.
9
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We asked the Department what were the causes of other delays in getting support to customers. The Former Permanent Secretary told us that, in terms of operational challenges, the most difficult schemes were those where people were being asked to apply. For example, the Department launched its portal for 900,000 …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the observation, outlining its swift actions and the inherent complexity of delivering support, particularly for application-based schemes, and is seeking to learn lessons for future delivery.
10
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The Department told us that an important lesson it had learnt from the schemes was the complexity in implementing a universal scheme to reach all energy consumers living under different circumstances. The Former Permanent Secretary explained that the Department did not have enough bandwidth to look at such a complex …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the observation, acknowledging the complexity of reaching all consumers and that lessons learned are informing planning for future support, with the department seeking to learn lessons on delivery and communications.